RESOLUTE Mining made short work of reducing balance sheet stress this year after putting in steps to cut total debt about $200m to $194m.
The company today announced terms of an equity raise in which it placed A$146m ($100m) with institutional investors and placed a further A$50m ($34m) with directors, its largest shareholder, ICM Limited Group, and Australian and New Zealand shareholders.
The equity raise would be directed at the $130m bridging facility raised last year as Resolute swooped on Toro Gold. The finance fell due at the end of January and would have incurred extension costs had it not been settled.
Earlier this month, Resolute announced the proposed sale of its Ravenswood mine in Australia for about A$100m. Once completed, the transactions will see Resolute remove some $190m in total debt which stood at $394m as of December 31.
Shares in the Sydney- and London-listed gold producer were placed with investors as well as directors at A$1.10/share, a 6.4% discount the firm’s last closing price of A$1.175/share and a 7% discount to the five day volume weighted average price.
John Welborn, CEO and MD of Resolute, said in an announcement that the equity raise would “… support and enable the complete refinancing of our debt facilities during the current quarter”.
“Completion of the equity placement, and the refinancing of our senior syndicated loan facilities, will enable the company to simplify its capital structure and facilitate the retirement of debt facilities provided by Taurus,” he said.
