Pre-Annual General Meeting Information • Apr 10, 2025
Pre-Annual General Meeting Information
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THIS DOCUMENT IS IMPORTANT AND REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. If you are in any doubt as to the action you should take, you are recommended to seek your own independent financial advice from a stockbroker, bank manager, solicitor, accountant, or other financial adviser authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 if you are resident in the United Kingdom or, if you are not resident in the United Kingdom, from another appropriately authorised independent financial adviser.
If you have sold or otherwise transferred all of your shares in US Solar Fund plc, please send this document, together with the accompanying documents, as soon as possible to the purchaser or transferee, or to the stockbroker, bank or other agent through whom the sale or transfer was effected, for delivery to the purchaser or transferee.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Annual General Meeting of US Solar Fund plc (Company) will be held, at the offices of JTC, The Scalpel, 18th Floor, 52 Lime Street, London EC3M 7AF on Tuesday, 20 May 2025 at 3:00 p.m.
You will be asked to consider and vote on the resolutions below. Resolutions 1 to 10 will be proposed as ordinary resolutions and resolutions 11 to 14 will be proposed as special resolutions. The Board unanimously recommends that Shareholders vote in favour of all resolutions, except in the case of resolution 14, which the Board unanimously recommends that Shareholders vote AGAINST.
By order of the Board
Registered office: The Scalpel, 18th Floor 52 Lime Street London EC3M 7AF
Company number: 04301763
Date: 9 April 2025
To change your proxy instructions you may return a new proxy appointment as set out above. Where you have appointed a proxy using the hard copy Form of Proxy and would like to change the instructions using another hard copy Form of Proxy, please contact Computershare. The deadline for receipt of proxy appointments (see above) also applies in relation to amended instructions. Where two or more valid separate appointments of proxy are received in respect of the same share in respect of the same meeting, the one which is last received shall be treated as replacing and revoking the other or others.
In order to revoke a proxy instruction a member will need to inform the Company by sending a signed hard copy notice clearly stating the intention to revoke the proxy appointment to Computershare at the address specified above. In the case of a member which is a company, the revocation notice must be executed under its common seal or signed on its behalf by an officer of the company or an attorney for the company. Any power of attorney or any other authority under which the revocation notice is signed (or a duly certified copy of such power or authority) must be included with the revocation notice.
The deadline for receipt of proxy appointments (see above) also applies in relation to a revocation notice. If a member attempts to revoke his or her proxy appointment but the revocation is received after the time specified, then subject to note (f) below, the proxy appointment will remain valid.
Your main point of contact in terms of your investment in the Company remains the Relevant Member (or perhaps your custodian or broker) and you should continue to contact them (and not the Company) regarding any changes or queries relating to your personal details and your interest in the Company (including any administrative matters). The only exception to this is where the Company expressly requests a response from you.
(g) CREST members who wish to appoint a proxy or proxies through the CREST electronic proxy appointment service may do so by using the procedures described in the CREST manual (available via www.euroclear.com). CREST personal members or other CREST sponsored members, and those CREST members who have appointed a voting service provider(s), should refer to their CREST sponsor or voting service provider(s) who will be able to take the appropriate action on their behalf.
In order for a proxy appointment or instruction made using the CREST service to be valid, the appropriate CREST message ("CREST Proxy Instruction") must be properly authenticated in accordance with Euroclear UK & International Limited's ("EUI") specifications and must contain the information required for such instructions, as described in the CREST manual. The message, regardless of whether it constitutes the appointment of a proxy or an amendment to the instruction given to a previously appointed proxy must, in order to be valid, be transmitted so as to be received by the issuer's agent Computershare Investor Services PLC (under CREST ID number 3RA50), no later than 3:00 pm on 16 May 2025, or, if the Annual General Meeting is adjourned, not less than 48 hours (excluding any part of a day which is not a working day) prior to the adjourned meeting. For this purpose, the time of receipt will be taken to be the time (as determined by the timestamp applied to the message by the CREST applications host) from which the issuer's agent is able to retrieve the message by enquiry to CREST in the manner prescribed by CREST.
After this time any change of instructions to proxies appointed through CREST should be communicated to the appointee through other means. CREST members and, where applicable, their CREST sponsors or voting service providers should note that EUI does not make available special procedures in CREST for any particular messages. Normal system timings and limitations will therefore apply in relation to the input of CREST Proxy Instructions. It is the responsibility of the CREST member concerned to take (or, if the CREST member is a CREST personal member or sponsored member or has appointed a voting service provider(s), to procure that his or her CREST sponsor or voting service provider(s) take(s)) such action as shall be necessary to ensure that a message is transmitted by the CREST system by any particular time. In this connection, CREST members and, where applicable, their CREST sponsors or voting service provider(s) are referred, in particular, to those sections of the CREST manual concerning practical limitations of the CREST system and timings. The Group may treat as invalid a CREST Proxy Instruction in the circumstances set out in Regulation 35(5) (a) of the Uncertificated Securities Regulations 2001.
The Companies Act requires the Directors of a public company to lay before the Company in general meeting copies of the Annual Report, Directors' Reports and its Auditor's Report in respect of each financial year. These are contained in the Company's Annual Report and financial statements for the financial year ended 31 December 2024 (the "2024 Annual Report"). Accordingly, a resolution to receive the 2024 Annual Report is included as an ordinary resolution.
The Directors' remuneration report can be found on pages 67 to 68 of the 2024 Annual Report and is subject to an advisory vote by Shareholders, which is proposed as an ordinary resolution. It details the payments that have been made to Directors during the year, in accordance with the current remuneration policy. The remuneration report will be presented to Shareholders on an annual basis.
At the annual general meeting held in 2023, the Directors' remuneration policy was approved by Shareholders and is not therefore required to be approved at this year's Annual General Meeting. The policy will be put to Shareholders again no later than the Company's annual general meeting in 2026.
Resolution 3 relates to the re-appointment of Deloitte LLP as the Company's Auditor to hold office until the conclusion of the next general meeting of the Company at which the accounts and reports of the Directors and Auditor are laid. This resolution is recommended by the Company's Audit Committee and endorsed by the Board. Accordingly, it is proposed, as an ordinary resolution, to re-appoint Deloitte LLP as the Company's Auditor. Resolution 4 authorises the Directors, upon recommendation from the Company's Audit Committee, to fix the Auditor's remuneration.
The Directors, having regard to the Audit Committee's recommendation, consider that the level of consultancy-related non-audit fees to audit fees paid to Deloitte LLP is appropriate for the advisory work required to be undertaken for the year to 31 December 2024 and that these do not create a conflict of interest on the part of the independent Auditor.
The Company's articles of association (the "Articles") specify that at each annual general meeting all of the Directors shall retire from office. Accordingly, each of the existing Directors will retire from office with effect from the conclusion of this Annual General Meeting and Gillian Nott, Jamie Richards and Thomas Plagemann will stand for re-election by the Shareholders. Mark Lerdal will stand for election by the Shareholders.
Biographies of each member of the Board standing for election (or re-election) can be found on page 55 of the 2024 Annual Report.
The Directors believe that the Board has an appropriate balance of skills, experience, independence and knowledge of the Company and the sector in which it operates to enable it to provide effective strategic leadership and proper guidance of the Company. The Board confirms that, following the evaluation process set out in the Corporate Governance Report on pages 58 to 62 of the 2024 Annual Report, the performance of each of the Directors is, and continues to be, effective and demonstrates their respective commitment to the role. The Board believes, therefore, that it is in the interests of Shareholders that Mark Lerdal be elected and Gillian Nott, Jamie Richards and Thomas Plagemann be re-elected.
Resolution 8 concerns the approval of the Company's dividend policy which is to pay interim quarterly dividends to the holders of Ordinary Shares, in US Dollars.
This resolution deals with the Directors authority to allot Ordinary Shares generally and unconditionally in accordance with section 551 of the Companies Act up to an aggregate nominal value of US\$307,850, or 10% of the Company's issued ordinary share capital.
Resolution 10 along with Special Resolution 11 as described below, intends to authorise the Board to allot shares in the capital of the Company and to grant rights to subscribe to, or to convert any security into shares on a non pre-emptive basis.
Resolution 11 will be proposed as a special resolution, which require a majority of at least 75% to be passed. The Resolution seeks to provide the Directors the authority to allot shares or sell shares held in treasury under Resolution 10, on a non-pre-emptive basis for cash up to an aggregate nominal amount of US\$307,850, or 10% of the issued ordinary share capital (excluding treasury shares) as at the date the resolution would have passed.
This resolution seeks authority for the Company to make market purchases of its own Ordinary Shares and is proposed as a special resolution. If passed, the resolution gives authority for the Company to purchase up to 46,144,225 of its Ordinary Shares, being approximately 14.99% of the Company's issued ordinary share capital (excluding treasury shares) as at 9 April 2025 (being the latest practicable date prior to the publication of this Notice).
The resolution specifies the minimum and maximum prices which may be paid for any Ordinary Shares purchased under this authority. The authority will expire on the earlier of 15 months from the passing of the resolution and the Company's next annual general meeting.
The Directors believe that it is prudent to obtain the flexibility that this resolution provides; and will only exercise the authority to purchase Ordinary Shares where they consider that such purchases will be in the best interests of Shareholders generally and will result in an increase in earnings per Ordinary Share.
The Company may either cancel any shares it purchases under this authority or transfer them into treasury (and subsequently sell or transfer them out of treasury or cancel them). The Directors currently intend to cancel all shares purchased under this authority.
As at 9 April 2025, there are no outstanding options or warrants to subscribe for Ordinary Shares in the capital of the Company.
Resolution 13 is to be proposed as a special resolution to allow the Company to hold general meetings (other than annual general meetings) on at least 14 clear days' notice.
The minimum notice period for general meetings of listed companies is 21 days, but companies may reduce this period to 14 days (other than for annual general meetings) provided that two conditions are met. The first condition is that the Company offers a facility for Shareholders to vote by electronic means. This condition is met if the Company offers a facility, accessible to all Shareholders, to appoint a proxy by means of a website. The second condition is that there is an annual resolution of Shareholders approving the reduction of the minimum notice period from 21 days to 14 days.
If approved, the resolution will be effective until the end of the Company's next annual general meeting, when it is intended that the approval be renewed. The Board will consider on a case-by-case basis whether the use of the flexibility offered by the shorter notice period is merited, taking into account the circumstances, including whether the business of the meeting is time sensitive.
The Company's Articles require the Directors to propose to Shareholders a special resolution that the Company ceases to continue in its present form ("Discontinuation Resolution") if over the course of a complete financial year, the Ordinary Shares of the Company have, on average, traded at a discount in excess of 10 percent to the Net Asset Value per Ordinary Share.
During the period, the Company's average price per Ordinary Share was 48.33 cents, trading at a 23.8% percent discount to the Company's average Net Asset Value as at 31 December 2024 (31 December 2023: 28.13 percent discount), triggering the requirement to propose the Discontinuation Resolution to Shareholders.
Accordingly, the Discontinuation Resolution will be put to Shareholders at the upcoming Annual General Meeting. If the Discontinuation Resolution is passed, the Board will put forward proposals to Shareholders at a general meeting of the Company, to be held within four months of the Discontinuation Resolution being passed, to wind up or otherwise reconstruct the Company, having regard to the illiquid nature of the Company's underlying assets.
Notwithstanding the obligation on the Board to propose the Discontinuation Resolution pursuant to the Company's Articles, the Board firmly believes that the passing of the Discontinuation Resolution would have a significant adverse impact on Shareholder value for the reasons set out below. The Board remains of the view that the current discount to NAV does not reflect the underlying value of the Company and remains committed to preserving shareholder value. The Board and Investment Manager will continue to monitor the market for similar assets as those held by the Company with a view to the realisation of value from the Company's assets when the time is right. That time is not now based on prevailing market conditions described in the Chair's Statement which are not conducive to a sale for value.
As a reminder, the Company underwent an extensive strategic review process in 2023 to consider the options available to protect Shareholder value (the "Strategic Review"). As a result of the Strategic Review, the Company made amendments to its investment policy and appointed a new Investment Manager, Amber Infrastructure Investment Advisor, LLC (a member of the Amber Infrastructure Group) ("Amber"), with effect from 1 December 2023. The Strategic Review conducted throughout 2023, demonstrated that prevailing market conditions were not conducive to the Company realising the value of its assets. In June 2024, the Company delivered on its commitment to return capital to shareholders via a tender offer. The Company acquired approximately 7% of the issued share capital at a significant premium to the prevailing market price, returning \$18.6 million plus costs to shareholders. The Board's focus remains on taking steps to ensure the Company's portfolio is robust, optimised and capable of being presented to the market for a future liquidity event in order to maximise shareholder value.
In light of the severity of the possible consequences for Shareholder value, the Directors are unanimously recommending that Shareholders vote AGAINST the Discontinuation Resolution.
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