The wunderkinds behind 1-time high-flyer Atrum Coal have lost control of shares once worth more than $6o million after a loan secured against their stakes went sour.
Atrum co founders Russell Moran and Gino D’Anna have handed over a combined 3o m shares in the company, which were once worth more than $2 each, all but ending their association with a company that they grew into the best-performed float of 2013.
Argonaut Equity Partners, which The Australian understands facilitated the loan on behalf of a group of senior West Australian executives, advised Atrum yesterday that they had taken control of 24m shares owned by Mr Moran and had reached a settlement with Mr D’Anna. The Australian understands the lenders have taken control of around 6m shares held by Mr D’Anna.
Atrum soared from 20c to more than $2 during a stunning debut year under the stewardship of rookie directors Mr Moran and Mr D’Anna and veteran director James Chisholm. But the stock has drifted lower in the past two years following a fallout between the co-founders and the Atrum board and their departure from the company. It is understood that the pair had been missing interest payments on the loans for a prolonged period.
The loans had been originally taken by Mr Moran and Mr D’Anna primarily to allow them to exercise options they held in Atrum, injecting new funding into the explorer in the process.
The seizure of the stake also comes at an inopportune time for the co-founders, who are in the middle of preparing their new junior exploration play, lithium explorer MetalsTech, for listing on the Australian Stock Exchange in late January.
The company is aiming to raise between $4m and $5.5m for its IPO and is believed to have received strong interest from investors to date.
Shares in Atrum, which owns the big but undeveloped Groundhog anthracite deposit in the Canadian province of British Columbia, have drifted from $1 to 54c in recent months as investors realised the company was in need of an equity raising. It had just $731,000 in cash left to its name at the end of September.
Atrum stock has also suffered from a perceived overhang from the shares held by Mr Moran and Mr D’Anna. Atrum itself entered a trading halt yesterday, launching an equity raising that will both bring in fresh capital while also selling off a portion of the seized stake.
The company is believed to be looking to raise $10m at 50c a share through Blackwood Capital, the same broker behind its 2013 float.
The identity of the new holder of Mr Moran and Mr D’Anna’s old shares should be revealed in the coming days.
Mr Moran declined to comment when contacted by The Australian yesterday.
Both Mr Russell and Mr D’Anna will continue to hold some shares in Atrum, with the pair believed to have around 10m shares remaining between them.
The looming listing of MetalsTech shapes as the next step in rebuilding the pair’s fortune, with Mr Moran set to emerge with a 25 per cent stake in the new company and Mr D’Anna to hold just under 15 per cent on a fully diluted basis.
ATU Price at posting:
54.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
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