International law firm Watson, Farley & Williams has advised Coal of Africa, listed on AIM, ASX and JSE, on a placing to raise GBP56.9m.
A total of 59,867,731 new ordinary shares of no par value in Coal of Africa have been placed by J.P. Morgan Cazenove as sole global co-ordinator and sole bookrunner together with Evolution Securities as joint lead manager and Mirabaud Securities as co-lead manager.
Each placing share was priced at 95 pence, raising gross proceeds of approximately GBP56.9m.
The placing shares being issued represent approximately 14.52 per cent of Coal of Africa’s issued ordinary share capital prior to the placing.
Coal of Africa intends to use the net proceeds to fund the ZAR650m acquisition of the entire issued share capital of NuCoal Mining with the remainder for some or all of the following: to increase logistics capacity, including the first instalment of capital required to effect wagon acquisitions from Transnet Freight Rail; to accelerate capital expenditure at the Vele and Makhado projects; to pursue other smaller, opportunistic bolt on acquisitions of coal projects; and for general working capital requirements.
In the event that the acquisition does not complete, Coal of Africa envisages using those proceeds earmarked for the acquisition to accelerate expansion of logistic facilities at the Matola Terminal and Maputo port, for alternative acquisitions and for general working capital purposes.
The WFW team was led by Jan Mellmann, head of the international corporate group, with assistance from Gareth Burge.
Mellmann says: “This transaction is a significant fundraising enabling Coal to pursue the next step in building a high quality mid-tier thermal and coking coal business in South Africa. We have acted for Coal on a number of previous fundraisings and this transaction again demonstrates our ability to combine our strengths in natural resources and international capital markets to bring about a swift and successful conclusion for our clients."
