2021 - General Discussion, page-2653

The reason I can see Alcoa taking equity in FYI is because I think they'll want as much of the project as possible. On the other hand FYI will want as much of the project as possible. As we'll probably need to raise funds (as well as debt funding) it would make sense for Alcoa to take equity in us thus maximising their exposure to the project. For example with a 50/50 JV, if they take 25% equity in FYI, they effectively have 62%.

The GEM facility preceded the Alcoa MOU by 6 months, by using that facility, GEM get FYI shares at 90% of the average share price over the preceding 15 days - so a 10% discount. A capital raise would be cheaper especially if it was to Alcoa and they are willing to pay a premium price, not discounted. Also when GEM was signed up, ESG financing was no where near as big as it is now, FYI probably hadn't even thought of getting rated. Using that sort of financing combined with an equity raising would be cheaper than using the GEM facility.