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Sandnes, 4 March 2021Nordic Unmanned AS ("Nordic Unmanned" or the "Company") contemplates a private placement of new shares (the "Offer Shares") in the Company, with gross proceeds of up to NOK 100 million (the "Private Placement").

SpareBank 1 Markets AS (the "Manager") has been retained as sole bookrunner to advise on and carry out the Private Placement.

The net proceeds from the Private Placement will be used to accelerate the pursuit of several potential M&A opportunities in the fragmented European drone industry, in addition to general corporate purposes.

Transaction details
The price for the Offer Shares in the Private Placement and the total number of Offer Shares will be determined by the Board of Directors of the Company following an accelerated book building process. The book building and application period for the Private Placement commences today at 16:45 CET, and is expected to close prior to 5 March 2021 at 08:00 CET. The Company, after consultation with the Manager, reserves the right to at any time and in its sole discretion close or extend the application period or to cancel the Private Placement in its entirety and for any reason. If the book building is shortened or extended, the other dates referred to herein may be changed correspondingly.

The Private Placement will be directed towards a limited number of selected investors, in each case, subject to and in compliance with applicable exemptions from relevant prospectus, filing and registration requirements. The minimum application and allocation amount have been set to the NOK equivalent of EUR 100,000. The Company may however, at its sole discretion, allocate an amount below EUR 100,000 to the extent applicable exemptions from the prospectus requirement pursuant to applicable regulations, including the Norwegian Securities Trading Act and ancillary regulations, are available.


The Company also intends to carry out a separate offering of shares directed towards its employees. It is expected that such offering of shares towards the employees will be for gross proceeds of up to of NOK 3 million with Shares offered at a price equal to the subscription price for the Offer Shares, less 30%, and with a three-year lock-up. Such employee offering will be carried out separately following the Private Placement.

Allocation of the shares in the Private Placement will be determined at the end of the application period, and final allocation will be made by the Board at its sole discretion, after consultation with the Manager. Settlement of the Private Placement will be on a delivery versus payment basis, to be facilitated by existing and unencumbered shares in the Company pursuant to a share lending agreement entered into between Skaulen AS as share lender, the Company and the Manager in order to facilitate delivery of listed shares to investors on a delivery versus payment basis. The Manager will settle the shares borrowed from the share lender with a corresponding number of new shares in the Company to be issued by the Board of Directors pursuant to an authorization to increase the share capital granted by an extraordinary general meeting of the Company on 24 November 2020.

The Company will announce the exact number of Offer Shares to be issued in the Private Placement through a stock exchange notice expected to be published before the opening of the trading on Euronext Growth Oslo on 5 March 2021. Completion of the Private Placement is subject to the Board making the required resolutions to complete the Private Placement, including without limitation, resolving allocation of the Offer Shares and to issue the Offer Shares pursuant to an authorization granted by an extraordinary general meeting of the Company on 24 November 2020.

The Private Placement represents a deviation from the shareholders' pre-emptive right to subscribe for the Offer Shares. The Board of Directors has considered the Private Placement in light of the requirements in the Norwegian Private Limited Companies Act and the rules on equal treatment under Euronext Growth Oslo Rule Book II for companies listed on Euronext Growth Oslo and Oslo Børs' Guidelines on the rule of equal treatment. Taking into consideration the time, costs and expected terms of alternative methods of the securing the desired  funding, the Board of Directors has concluded that  offering new shares in a private placement on acceptable terms at this time is in the common interest of the shareholders of the Company.

The Board will consider to conduct a subsequent repair offering directed towards eligible shareholders in the Company who: (i) hold shares in the Company as per the end of trading on 4 March 2021, as registered with the VPS on 6 March 2021, (ii) are not allocated Offer Shares in the Private Placement, and (iii) are not resident in a jurisdiction where such offering would be unlawful or, for jurisdictions other than Norway, would require any prospectus, filing, registration or similar action (the “Subsequent Offering”).

Save for the Offer Shares to be issued in the Private Placement and the employee offering and, if relevant, new shares to be issued in any subsequent offering, the 12 months lock-up undertaking of the Company entered into in connection with the admission to trading on Euronext Growth Oslo is and will continue to remain in full force and effect for the remainder of its duration. 

Important Notice
This announcement is not, and does not form a part of, any offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase, any securities of the Company. The distribution of this announcement and other information may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent into any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful or would require registration or other measures. Persons into whose possession this announcement or such other information should come are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions.

The securities referred to in this announcement have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and accordingly may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and in accordance with applicable U.S. state securities laws. The Company does not intend to register any part of the offering or their securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of securities in the United States. Any sale in the United States of the securities mentioned in this announcement will be made solely to "qualified institutional buyers" as defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act.

In any EEA Member State, this communication is only addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors in that EEA Member State within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation, i.e., only to investors who can receive the offer without an approved prospectus in such EEA Member State. The expression "Prospectus Regulation" means Regulation 2017/1129 as amended together with any applicable implementing measures in any EEA Member State.

This communication is only being distributed to and is only directed at persons in the United Kingdom that are (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Order") or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom this announcement may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). This communication must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only for relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons. Persons distributing this communication must satisfy themselves that it is lawful to do so.

Matters discussed in this announcement may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "strategy", "intends", "estimate", "will", "may", "continue", "should" and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, the assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond the Company's control.

Actual events may differ significantly from any anticipated development due to a number of factors, including without limitation, changes in investment levels and need for the Company's services, changes in the general economic, political and market conditions in the markets in which the Company operates, the Company's ability to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel, changes in the Company's ability to engage in commercially acceptable acquisitions and strategic investments, and changes in laws and regulation and the potential impact of legal proceedings and actions. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this release by forward-looking statements. The Company does not provide any guarantees that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements in this announcement are free from errors nor does it accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the opinions expressed in this announcement or any obligation to update or revise the statements in this announcement to reflect subsequent events. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements in this announcement.

The information, opinions and forward-looking statements contained in this announcement speak only as at its date, and are subject to change without notice. The Company does not undertake any obligation to review, update, confirm, or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that arise in relation to the content of this announcement. Neither the Manager nor any of its affiliates make any representation as to the accuracy or completeness of this announcement and none of them accept any responsibility for the contents of this announcement or any matters referred to herein.

This announcement is for information purposes only and is not to be relied upon in substitution for the exercise of independent judgment. It is not intended as investment advice and under no circumstances is it to be used or considered as an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities in the Company. Neither the Manager nor any of its affiliates accept any liability arising from the use of this announcement.

This announcement is an advertisement and is not a prospectus for the purposes of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on prospectuses to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market, and repealing Directive 2003/71/EC (as amended) as implemented in any Member State. 

Disclaimer

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Contacts

  • Knut Roar Wiig, CEO, +47 92 66 66 59, krw@nordicunmanned.com

About Nordic Unmanned

Nordic Unmanned delivers comprehensive data solutions through industry leading expertise, to assist both public and private customers in the transition to unmanned technology. The focus is to support demanding clients by collecting time-critical data with the use of unmanned technology.

Founded in 2014, the company has offices in Sandnes, Oslo, and Frankfurt, and has quickly become one of Europe’s leading providers of unmanned systems and services, with operations across the continent.The company is ISO 9001-2015 certified by DNV-GL as a UAV and sensor operator.

For more information visit nordicunmanned.com

Attachments

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