Shares in Bluefield Solar Income Fund Ltd (LSE:BSIF, FRA:5B3) surged 16% to 91.15p in early trading after Drax Group agreed to acquire the listed renewable energy investment company for £548m in a recommended all-cash deal.
Under the terms of the scheme of arrangement, Bluefield shareholders will receive 92.574p per share in cash, plus a permitted interim dividend of 2.25p, bringing the total value to 94.824p per share.
The offer represents a 31% premium to Bluefield's closing price of 72.20p on 4 November 2025, the last trading day before the offer period began, but a 9% discount to the fund's most recent net asset value of 104.52p per share.
Drax said the acquisition would give it direct access to Bluefield's operating portfolio of around 850 megawatts of solar and wind assets, as well as a development pipeline of 2.9 gigawatts gross capacity to be built over the next decade.
The deal would complement Drax's existing 2.2 gigawatts of flexible generation assets and 2.6 gigawatts of biomass capacity, creating what the company described as a broader base of UK generation assets.
For the financial year ended June 2025, Bluefield generated underlying earnings of around £95m, EBITDA of around £130m and operating free cash flow of around £118m.
Bluefield chair Michael Gibbons said the fund had been trading at a persistent double-digit discount to net asset value since autumn 2022 following the shift in the interest rate environment, and that the board had acted decisively to initiate a formal sale process after shareholder feedback indicated a clear preference for value-maximising options.
The Bluefield board unanimously recommended that shareholders vote in favour of the acquisition, which is expected to complete in the third quarter of 2026, subject to court approval and clearance under the UK National Security and Investment Act.