The Tilt Renewables Ltd (ASX: TLT) share price has made a rare jump up, with Tilt shares jumping by over 3% today to $2.33 on news that the energy company is conducting a "strategic review" of its largest asset – the Snowtown 2 windfarm in South Australia.
As observed by my Foolish colleague Lachlan Hall last month, shares of this green energy company are extraordinarily illiquid, meaning that very few shares trade hands day to day, despite its market cap of over $1 billion. This is mostly due to the fact that two companies – Mercury NZ Ltd (ASX: MCY) and Infratil Limited (ASX: IFT) have an iron grip on the vast majority of shares available (over 85%), which leaves very few remaining shares for public trading.
Today's rise means that is it possible that one of these two companies has increased their stake of Tilt, or another institutional investor has staked a claim as well, but we will have to wait and see if this is the case.
In an ASX release this morning, Tilt advised that its ownership of its largest windfarm – Snowtown 2 would be reviewed as it has now been operational for just over 5 years. Tilt promoted the fact that Snowtown 2 has been contracted out until 2035, with pricing guarantees built into its commercial arrangements, so it sounds like the company is keen to at least gauge some selling interest in this asset, although Tilt also stated that "at this stage, no decisions have been made".
Foolish Takeaway
With two other wind farm assets coming online over the next two years, Tilt may be looking to diversify some of its earnings going forward, or maybe is just taking advantage of the current appetite for steady, income-producing assets. Either way, someone with an interest in Tilt liked today's announcement.
