The A$30m in capital being raised will fund the acquisition, construction and commissioning of the first 1,000tpa of production capacity, R&D into the integration of Pure Alumina’s existing kaolin-based HPA process into Polar’s technology, product marketing and general corporate working capital.
Due diligence for the transaction is essentially complete. Pure Alumina has completed its due diligence of Polar and identified no material legal, financial, commercial or technical issues. Polar has similarly undertaken due diligence of Pure Alumina and has not informed the Company of any substantive issues.
The $30m capital raise is currently the major focus. After agreeing mandates with Patersons and Fraser McKenzie Merchant Capital, a global roadshow to brief investors in Europe, North America and Australia was undertaken. There was strong interest and positive feedback. Follow up meetings, site visits by investors to Polar’s HPA pilot plant and investor due diligence is underway. Current efforts are focused on converting investor interest to commitment to the capital raise. Pure Alumina is preparing a notice of meeting and independent expert report on the transaction to enable shareholders to consider and vote on the transaction once the capital raise and other conditions precedent are satisfied. The notice of meeting will be sent to shareholders once finalised and approved by the ASX. Pure Alumina and Polar agreed to extend their acquisition agreement to 30 September 2019 to allow sufficient time to complete the transaction. However, PUA no longer has exclusivity for the acquisition of Polar (see ASX Release of 24 July 2019).
Following a strategic review, Pure Alumina appointed PCF Capital to undertake a sale process for its gold assets. To date, more than 40 companies have viewed the data and this has resulted in a range of offers for the gold assets. Multiple offers were considered acceptable however were subject to finance. Despite record gold prices, raising money in the exploration and development segment of the gold market proved very difficult and several offers were unable to be advanced to a conclusion for this reason. The historically high gold prices have seen interest in the Hill End gold assets continue with new parties reviewing the project and further offers received. At the time of writing, discussions are underway with a preferred bidder to secure a binding agreement.
