After reporting large losses this year that sent its stock price plummeting, APR Energy plc said today it is in discussions with a consortium of investment firms about a possible buyout of the company.
APR Energy, which builds interim power plants around the world, is headquartered in Jacksonville but its stock trades on the London Stock Exchange.
The company said under British law affecting companies that trade in London, the consortium will have to decide whether to make an offer to buy the company by Nov. 2.
The companies in the consortium negotiating with APR include Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., which was APR’s largest shareholder with 18.3 percent of the stock, according to APR’s 2014 annual report.
The other companies in the consortium are ACON Investments LLC and Albright Capital Management LLC.
Albright Capital is an investment fund chaired by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
APR said in a statement “there can be no certainty” an offer will be made by the consortium.
The company reported an adjusted net loss of $40.3 million in the first half of this year, after taking significant write-offs from power projects it had to abandon in Libya and Yemen. APR had to pull out of those projects because the countries had become too risky.
The losses have put APR in danger of breaching certain covenants of loan contracts, but the company said last week that its bankers have extended the deadline for negotiating modifications of its loans by a month to Oct. 31.
As the losses mounted, APR’s stock price has dropped from above 1,000 pence as recently as January 2014 to below 100p recently. However, the stock jumped by 63.75p Monday, or 68 percent, to 157p (about $2.38) after announcing the buyout negotiations.
With more than 94 million shares outstanding, that made APR’s market value about $225 million as of the close in trading in London on Monday.