$50 million Capital Raising Completed
Brisbane, Feb 5, 2015 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Orocobre Limited (
ASX:ORE) (TSE:ORL) ("Orocobre" or "the Company") is pleased to announce it has raised approximately A$50 million through a $40m Placement to domestic and international institutional and sophisticated investors and a $10m underwritten Share Purchase Plan.
The proceeds of this capital raising will be used primarily to fund working capital requirements for the Olaroz Lithium Plant during its production ramp up.
Orocobre was pleased to announce on 2 February 2015 that commissioning of the final circuits at the Olaroz Lithium Plant had been completed and that the plant had moved into commercial ramp up stage to supply customers with lithium carbonate for final product qualification. The plant is expected to reach nameplate production of 1,450 tonnes per month (17,500tpa) in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Placement
The Placement of approximately 15.7 million shares will be issued pursuant to Orocobre's 15% capacity under ASX Listing Rule 7.1 at a price of A$2.55 per share, representing a 13% discount to the ASX closing price prior to the Company entering into a trading halt on 30 January. Subject to shareholder approval at a General Meeting proposed to be held on or about 9 March entities associated with Chairman James Calaway and Managing Director Richard Seville will be participating in the placement for 267,563 and 100,000 shares respectively.
The Lead Manager and Bookrunner for the placement was Canaccord Genuity (Australia) Ltd.
Share Purchase Plan
The Company is also pleased to announce the opportunity for existing shareholders of the Company to participate in an underwritten Share Purchase Plan (SPP). The SPP will be capped at $15m, and is underwritten to $10m.
Under the SPP, eligible Orocobre shareholders are invited to invest up to $15,000 per shareholder at $2.55 per share, the same price per share as institutional investors were offered shares under the Placement. No brokerage or transaction costs are payable by shareholders when subscribing for shares under the SPP.
The offer price of the shares under the SPP represents an 11.3% discount to the volume weighted average price (VWAP) for the 5 days prior to the Record Date for the Offer. The SPP is underwritten by Canaccord Genuity (Australia) Ltd.
The Directors reserve the right to accept additional applications subject to shareholder demand. The SPP will only be offered to eligible ORE shareholders resident in Australia or New Zealand and the SPP Offer document will be provided to Eligible Shareholders shortly.
To view the Proposed SPP Timetable, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-ORE-841205.pdf
Managing Director, Richard Seville, said "We are very pleased with the result of the raising in what are difficult conditions for resource companies. We are now well funded to take Olaroz and the Company through to the next stage of development, becoming a profitable operating company. Although we welcome some new shareholders onto the register, we are honoured by the on-going support we have received from our existing shareholders in this raising. We will continue to work hard to build on the shareholder value that we have delivered to date."
About Orocobre Limited
Orocobre Limited is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange (
ASX:ORE) (TSE:ORL) (OTCMKTS:OROCF), and is building a substantial Argentine based industrial chemicals company through its portfolio of lithium, potash and boron assets. In partnership with Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC) and JEMSE, Orocobre has built and is now operating the world's first commercial, brine-based lithium operation constructed in approximately 20 years.
In 2018 Orocobre announced the Stage 2 Expansion of its flagship Olaroz Lithium Facility in Argentina. The Stage 2 Expansion will add 25,000 tpa of lithium carbonate production capacity, taking full production and capacity to 42,500 tpa of lithium carbonate for sale to industrial, technical and battery markets, positioning Orocobre as one of the world's largest and lowest cost lithium chemicals producers.
Additionally, Orocobre and Toyota Tsusho Corporation have commenced construction of the 10,000 tpa lithium hydroxide plant in Naraha, Japan. The construction of the Naraha Lithium Hydroxide Plant will further cement Orocobre's position as a global lithium chemicals producer operating at the bottom quartile of the lithium cost curve. This new hydroxide plant will be the first of its kind in Japan and will provide Orocobre product diversification suitable for different battery technologies and the potential for significant margin growth on our primary lithium carbonate being converted to battery grade lithium hydroxide.
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