Lithium & The Future, page-3609

Better to attach a name to questions mostly kingkev?
Or maybe no one knows, or the ones who do haven’t read the question yet or don’t post.

Meanwhile I’ve been doing a bit of my own research through the forum here on the loan note holder,

So in case it’s of interest to anyone, here’s a story on PALA Investments retrieved from an earlier thread at AJM
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/bu...t/news-story/486e74a4ff9b639b05e84a2e61768388
“Pala, backed by Russian billionaire, to invest
PAUL GARVEY
MARCH 5, 2017

Pala Investments, the Switzerland-based mining private-equity fund backed by Russian billionaire Vladimir Iorich, is scouring the Australian market for more opportunities as it looks to reinvest its recent $200 million windfall.

Pala portfolio manager Stephen Gill told The Australian that the improvement across the resources sector over the past year was likely to drive more deals in the months ahead as investors and executives grew more confident that the worst of the downturn was behind them.

“We continue to have money available for investments; we’re an active investor and we’re always looking,” Mr Gill said


“I would not be surprised to see us pop up on the register of some more Australian listed companies soon.”

Pala recently emerged as a major backer of ASX-listed tin play Kasbah Resources, but only after an unexpectedly protracted transaction. An original deal to combine Kasbah with the Pala-backed Asian Mineral Resources attracted heavy support from the bulk of Kasbah’s register, but was derailed when a group of dissident Kasbah shareholders found some fatal flaws in the independent expert’s report.

Pala instead returned with a $3.7m placement in Kasbah, giving it a 19.9 per cent stake in the company.

Mr Gill said the kerfuffle around the Kasbah deal took him by surprise, and insisted Pala should only ever be seen as a friendly partner.

“We have no interest in getting into spats with people,” Mr Gill said.

“If we’re not welcome, there’s no shortage of other investment opportunities out there.”

Pala was founded back in 2006 with an initial $900 million investment, predominantly bankrolled by Mr Iorich, who had made his fortune as a large shareholder in New York Stock Exchange-listed Russian mining and steel company Mechel.

Since then the group has been a frequent investor in junior resources plays around the world, backing locally listed groups including gold miner Alacer Gold and uranium producer Peninsula Energy.

While it was by no means immune from the pain of the downturn, it did collect a windfall late last year when ASX-listed Iluka Resources finalised its $375m takeover of mineral sands producer Sierra Rutile.

Pala owned a 53 per cent stake in Sierra, netting the group just under $200m.

That payday leaves Pala well placed to make further investments, with Mr Gill on the hunt for exposure to commodities such as cobalt and nickel in particular, given both are heavily exposed to rising demand from the battery and electric vehicle sectors.”




At that time there was some concern about the Pala reputation @Mythavatar recommended those interested Google ‘Pala Investments Lawsuits ‘
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=pala investments lawsuits&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-au&client=safari

......however as James Brown said he has been trying to negotiate a different ‘instrument’ for many months and the company is now significantly de-risked . Maybe Pala will do the ‘right thing’ and reduce it’s rates rather than lose the debt to someone else.

Cheers