The Tilt Renewables Ltd (ASX: TLT) share price is rocketing today, up 17.43% at the time of writing to $4.34 a share.
Tilt shares closed at $3.74 on Friday afternoon last week, but opened at $4.25 this morning, before climbing all the way to $4.44 just after open (a new all-time high).
At the current share price, Tilt shares are now up more than 33% year to date, and up more than 137% since the company's ASX debut back in February 2018. They are also up 73.6% off Tilt's 52-week low that we saw back in mid-March during the coronavirus-induced market crash.
So what is Tilt Renewables? And why is the Tilt share price rocketing up today?
Tilting towards clean energy
Tilt Renewables is a renewable energy company (shocker) with a focus on the Australian and New Zealand energy markets. The company tells us its vision is "to be a leading developer and owner of renewable electricity generation in Australia and New Zealand. We tilt for a positive and sustainable future."
Even though it describes itself as a 'renewable energy company', Tilt is in the business of wind power at the present time. It currently owns and operates 8 wind farms across Australia and New Zealand.
These include the Tararua Wind Farm in Manawatu, NZ; the Snowtown Windfarm in South Australia, the Crookwell Wind Farm in Goulburn, New South Wales, and the Salt Creek Wind Farm near Woorndoo, Victoria. The company also has another 22 new farms or upgrades in the pipeline, including the Dundonnell Wind Farm near Mortlake, Vic, and the Liverpool Range Windfarm just outside of Sydney.
However, Tilt is also planning to expand into solar power as well. It currently has 2 solar farm projects in development – the Dysart Solar Farm near Mackay, Queensland, and the Illabo Solar Farm near Wagga Wagga, NSW.
Tilt has had a good year so far, if the numbers are anything to go by. Back in October, Tilt reported that the 6 months ending 30 September 2020 saw profits after tax up 125% to compared to the prior corresponding period to $26.8 million. The company also saw basic earnings per share surge by 151% to 6.32 cents.
Interestingly, more than half of this company's outstanding shares are owned by 2 large corporate shareholders, Infratil Ltd (ASX: IFT) and Mercury NZ Ltd (ASX: MCY). And that takes us to why the share price is rocketing today.
Why the Tilt Renewables share price is on fire today
The Tilt share price performance today is almost certainly due to a release the company made to the markets this morning before open. In this release, Tilt informed the market that Infratil (Tilt's largest shareholder with a 65.5% stake) has "commenced a strategic review of its shareholding" of Tilt.
The company stated the following on this situation:
TLT [Tilt Renewables] understands the IFT [Infratil] strategic review process may result in an offer from a third party for all outstanding shares in TLT and therefore the directors of TLT will begin preparations to be able to respond to such an offer. At this stage, the directors recommend TLT shareholders take no action.
Infratil elaborated on this announcement by stating:
Infratil has recently received a number of enquiries in relation to its Tilt shareholding. Given strong demand for high quality renewables platforms globally, Infratil considers it is prudent to assess alternatives for its Tilt shareholding, including divestment of its position.
It's likely that it's for this reason that Tilt shares are rocketing today.
