Kalium Lakes Ltd., Balcatta, Western Australia, announced on Oct. 14 that it has successfully completed a book build to raise A$50 million through a two-tranche placement of new fully paid ordinary shares.
“We are exceptionally pleased with the outcome of the capital raising and we are grateful for the support of our existing shareholders and welcome new institutional shareholders to our register,” said CEO Rudolph van Niekerk. “This is a very exciting time for Kalium Lakes, especially having regard to the production of first SOP and subsequent ramp-up to 90,000 mt/y production expected to be achieved by March 2022.
“The funds raised will enable the company to expand Beyondie from 90,000 mt/y to 120,000 mt/y, which is well timed given the rising SOP price and several potential upside opportunities with COVID-19 impacts normalizing” van Niekerk said.
The company became Australia’s first SOP producer, producing its first batch of standard SOP on Oct. 4 (GM Oct. 8, p. 1).
The company said the offer, which was announced on Oct. 13, was significantly oversubscribed, receiving strong demand from existing shareholders as well as new institutional investors who will be introduced to the company’s share register. The offer comprises 278 million new shares to be issued at $0.18 per share. The shares were at an 18.2 percent discount to the last closing price of A$0.22 per share on Monday, Oct. 11.
On Oct. 12, Kalium reported that its shares were temporarily placed in trading halt at its request pending the release of an announcement.
Kalium also announced on Oct. 13 that it has restructured its existing debt with two senior lenders – KfW IPEX-Bank and the State of Western Australia. This also includes the provision of an additional liquidity facility for an aggregate of A$20 million.