Directa Plus to buy 51% of commercial partner Setcar and raise new funds

Directa Plus recently reported a broadly unchanged interim loss, despite a 56% year-on-year rise in revenue, and said that it plans to acquire a majority stake in a Romanian waste management and decontamination services business for EUR4.1 million.

Directa Plus also said it will raise up to GBP8.2 million to fund the Romanian stake acquisition.

The Company has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire a 51% stake in Setcar, which has been a commercial partner of Directa Plus and has contributed to the industrial development of the company's Grafysorber mobile decontamination units.

For 2018, Setcar reported revenue of EUR3.9 million and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amorotisation of EUR250,000.

To fund the Setcar stake, Directa Plus has raised GBP7.2 million via placing of shares. It is also making an open offer for up to 1.3 million new shares to raise up to GBP1 million.

Directa Plus also intends to use the share issue proceeds to expand presence in environmental sector, improve G+ production facility, fund research and development activities and for general working capital purposes.

"This is a transformational transaction for Directa Plus. Just as we are seeking to do in textiles, we are now proposing to take more control of the environmental supply chain to capture maximum value from the commercial offering made possible by our Grafysorber technology," Directa Plus Chief Executive Officer Giulio Cesareo said.