I don't think people can fathom the level of money TG and people close to him, who helped build this company, have invested in LTR. Besides TG's insane amount invested, many current and former board members, including DR, CW and AC, have $20-30million invested at current prices. Protecting that investment is utmost on their minds. So nobody needs to doubt they aren't completely aligned with shareholders.
To be honest, I wouldn't mind a 1 for 10 capital raise, for shareholders only, at these prices. Would mean having to scrap together some money and being tighter than I wish, but if it made the company stronger and better positioned for negotiations, I would be all for it. However, I doubt this will happen as it would mean board members needing to trump up $200-300K. This is probably harder for them than TG trumping up $3mil. Some shareholders also may find it difficult and so a 1 for 10 raise for shareholders would not be fair for all/ dilution will not be even. I think they will be inundated with companies wanting those extra tonnes. The market is probably even tighter than when they did their first offtakes, as I believe there is better awareness with OEMs over the need to obtain lithium supply. A 4th offtake with Northvolt, VW, Toyota or Panasonic would not be a bad thing and would likely come with the extra cheap loan facility we need, even if it means giving up 10% of our product reserved for the spot market. The DSO is a bonus and will cover the extra loan. If we can get that to market early or organise an advanced sale that would leave us in a strong position to negotiate the 4th offtake or leave the leftover 100kT for the spot market.
There is a bit to work to go through in the next few months. Yesterday's presentation was an announcenbt to the market we have 100KT of uncommitfed product. The offers will be flooding in. In the meantime, we'll be trying to get more certainty about the DSO and when we can expect to get paid for this. They'll weigh up all their options, including government/private grants/funding. It is a pity we are no longer fully funded to production but they are doing the right thing in prioritising the start date to capture the high prices.
The difficulty in getting to market highlights the huge hurdle for other market hopefuls. All this reinforces the concept of higher lithium prices for longer. Once we are in production all this will seem insignificant.
Have a good weekend everyone. Lithium stocks up strongly OS overnight.
G
LTR Price at posting:
$1.38 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)