The Institutional Placement was heavily oversubscribed and strongly supported by both existing shareholders and new investors with several new large institutions to be introduced to the Pilbara Minerals share register
Image: Pilbara Minerals successfully completes £20.17m institutional placement. Photo: courtesy of Adam Radosavljevic from Pixabay.
Pilbara Minerals Limited (“Pilbara Minerals” or the “Company”) (ASX: PLS) has closed the institutional component of its A$91.5 million equity raising having successfully raised a total of A$36.5 million from institutional and sophisticated investors (“Institutional Placement”). As announced to ASX on Wednesday, 4 September 2019, the Institutional Placement will be followed by a strategic placement of A$55.0 million to the leading Chinese battery manufacturer for electric vehicles, Contemporary Amperex Technology (SZSE: 300750) (“CATL”) (“CATL Placement”) (with the Institutional Placement and the CATL Placement collectively comprising the “Placement”).
The Institutional Placement was heavily oversubscribed and strongly supported by both existing shareholders and new investors with several new large institutions to be introduced to the Pilbara Minerals share register.
Approximately 121.7 million new Pilbara Minerals ordinary shares are to be issued under the Institutional Placement at a price of A$0.30 per share (“Placement Price”).
In addition to the Placement, an SPP is expected to raise up to an additional A$20.0 million which will be offered to existing eligible shareholders shortly.
Pilbara Minerals’ Managing Director, Ken Brinsden commented on the Institutional Placement:
“We are extremely pleased to have received overwhelming demand for the Institutional Placement, including from our existing shareholder base. We welcome high quality new institutional investors onto our share register and are looking forward to welcoming our new investor CATL to our register and developing our strategic relationship following completion of the CATL Placement.
The raising will provide Pilbara Minerals’ with significantly enhanced financial and strategic flexibility as we enter an important growth phase, including completing the ramp up our Pilgangoora operation to meet the expected increased demand for lithium raw material and funding our participation in the POSCO Downstream JV conversion plant.”
CATL PLACEMENT
As previously announced, the CATL Placement will be settled in two tranches, split according to the relevant approval conditions:
• Tranche 1 for A$20.0 million will be issued under Pilbara Minerals’ placement capacity under ASX Listing Rule 7.1 upon receipt of customary regulatory approvals from the People’s Republic of China (“PRC Approvals”) (“Tranche 1”).
• Tranche 2 for A$35.0 million will be issued following PRC Approvals and Pilbara Minerals’ shareholder approval (“Tranche 2”).
CATL expects PRC Approvals to be received within approximately 6 weeks. A general meeting of shareholders is expected to be held in early October.
A A$5.0 million deposit has been transferred by CATL, demonstrating CATL’s commitment to the CATL Placement and their confidence in closing the transaction.
SHARE PURCHASE PLAN DETAILS
The SPP is expected to be open to eligible Pilbara Minerals’ shareholders as at 7.00pm (Sydney time) on the record date of Tuesday 3 September 2019 (“Record Date”)2 and whose registered address is in Australia or New Zealand (“Eligible Holders”). Eligible Holders will be invited to invest up to a maximum of A$30,000 per shareholder in the SPP, subject to any scale back and an overall cap of A$20.0 million (or approximately 66.7 million shares).
New shares issued under the SPP will be offered at a price that is the lower of:
• the Placement Price (being A$0.30 per share); and
• a 1.0% discount to the VWAP3 of Pilbara shares traded during the five ASX trading days immediately prior to and including the SPP closing date.
No brokerage will be payable by subscribing shareholders.
Further details on the SPP and an SPP offer booklet will be distributed to Eligible Holders shortly and released on the ASX.
Source: Company Press Release