In early trading, European Green Transition (EGT) experienced a stock increase of 6.3%. EGT is a green-energy focused company established by Cathal Friel, an innovative entrepreneur. The jump in trading saw the company listed on London’s junior market, resulting in its market value reaching €15.4 million (€16.9 million). As EGT grows and establishes more investments, they plan on having additional stock placements.
EGT’s initial portfolio houses three exploration projects for crucial metals like lithium, used for electric vehicle batteries, along with rare-earth metals like dysprosium and terbium, which are employed in wind turbine production. These projects are located in Sweden and Germany. In their initial public offering, the company raised a total of £6.46 million, selling shares at 10 pence each. They also expect to involve themselves with “distressed and undervalued green economy assets” across Europe.
EGT’s current key asset is the Olserum rare-earth elements (REE) initiative located in southern Sweden. They are optimistic about advancing this project to secure a 25-year exploitation agreement. EGT plans to partner up rather than engage in direct mining, benefiting through royalties. According to their CEO, Aidan Lavelle, the company’s listing and fund-raising activity is a vital step for EGT, contributing significantly to their green economy projects, including the Olserum Rare Earth endeavour, all in support of Europe’s energy transition.
Over the past twelve years, Friel’s Raglan Capital has orchestrated five IPOs, including this one for EGT. Despite his stake being diluted from nearly 44% to about 19% due to the fund-raising activity, Friel remains the largest shareholder. Notably, a similar pattern was seen when Fastnet Oil & Gas was listed in 2012, focusing originally on exploration before eventually spinning off its oil and gas properties to merge with Amryt Pharma, who sought to procure and develop medicine contenders targeting rare and orphan diseases. A €12.6 million stock offering was an integral part of the deal, which is practically an IPO. Last year, Chiesi Farmaceutici, an Italian pharmaceutical company, purchased Amryt for approximately $1.48 billion (€1.37 billion).
Mr Friel masterminded Open Orphan’s initial public offering (IPO) in 2019, a firm providing pharmaceutical services, via a reverse acquisition of Venn Life Sciences, a company listed in Dublin. Later that year, the company proceeded to acquire Hvivo, a UK-based clinical trials enterprise experiencing problems at the time. The rebranded Hvivo Group now holds a market value slightly over £200 million.
In 2021, Hvivo detached its Poolbeg Pharma division, dedicated to the creation of treatments for infectious diseases, via a London IPO. The market capitalisation of Poolbeg currently stands at £50 million.