Good News & Bad News, page-45385

I think you are about right about the debt facility (though don't know what your gripe with hotcopper is ).

In relation to the proposed $1b facility I think I heard Dale Henderson refer to adjusting Pilbara's capital structure - which is the balance between equity, borrowings and cash. Currently for a big balance sheet as Pilbara has they are only carrying about $360m in borrowings, but have $1.6b in cash and $3.2b in equity, which is probably a bit out of whack. The new facility adds up to another $640m in borrowings, depending how much they drawn down on that facility. Note they did say that the proposed new facility would in part refinance the existing borrowings.

The other point maybe worth mentioning is that it is a revolving facility which means it can act like a diaphragm. It can be drawn down on when the company needs a spurt of liquidity and and it can also be repaid when that liquidity is not so much needed. I suspect that financiers and creditors and institutional investors would all be expecting to see such facilities in place in a company of the scale and the sector of Pilbara.