* Bidding consortium comprises Fairfax, ACON, Albright
* Shares trading at offer price of 175 pence
* Shares have risen 88 pct since talks disclosed
* Bidders to inject $200 mln of additional funding
(Adds details, background, updates share price)
By Esha Vaish
Oct 26 (Reuters) - Power plant supplier APR Energy Plc
APREN.L has agreed to a 165 million-pound ($253 million)
takeover by a consortium including its biggest shareholder,
after a year dogged by the loss of projects in conflict zones.
The buyers, a group comprising Fairfax Financial Holdings
Ltd FFH.TO , ACON Equity Management LLC and Albright Capital
Management LLC, will pay 175 pence a share in cash to take APR
private, the company said on Monday. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nRSZ3826Da
APR's shares were trading at the offer price as of 1200 GMT,
down about 2 percent.
They have risen about 88 percent since Oct. 2, the last
trading day before APR said it was in talks with the consortium.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N125281
Jacksonville, Florida-based APR rents out turbines and
generators to cover electricity shortfalls, often in developing
markets, where demand has grown as utilities have struggled to
keep pace with rapid economic growth.
This has created business for APR, as well as larger rival
Aggreko Plc AGGK.L .
But APR's particular focus on emerging markets has also left
it exposed to conflict and political tension. The collapse of a
major contract in Libya preceded the company's exit from Yemen
in April, due to fighting there.
The suspension of its Libyan contract - the company's
largest ever, accounting for more than a third of its revenue
last year - pushed APR to the brink of breaching its debt
covenants.
The company secured a renegotiation on its credit facility
in April, thus avoiding a breach, and was later granted a
month's extension of its next covenant testing date of Sept. 30.
The consortium bidding for APR intend to supply $200 million
of additional funding to the company within 31 business days of
its offer being declared unconditional.
About $150 million of this will be used to repay debt and
the rest will be used for working capital and transaction costs.
"Given the volatility of the market, combined with the
capital-intensive nature of the business, we believe that APR
Energy would benefit from a period as a privately held company
as it seeks financial stability," Fairfax Financial Chairman and
Chief Executive Prem Watsa said in a statement.
General Electric (N:GE) Co GE.N , which owns about 16.4 percent of
APR's issued share capital through a subsidiary, has agreed to
the offer, as have APR's directors, the company said.
($1 = 0.6516 pounds)