15th May 2014 11:07
LONDON (Alliance News) - Aquarius Platinum Ltd Thursday said it had bought back USD172.6 million worth of its outstanding convertible bonds, leaving USD125.4 million outstanding, after completing a rights issue to fund the buy back.
In separate statements, the company said it had raised gross proceeds of about USD218 million in its two for one rights issue, after it got valid acceptances for about 95.39% of the of 976.2 million shares on offer at AUSD0.25, 14 pence or ZAR2.41 per rights issue share. The issue managers then found buyers for the remainder, meaning it raised USD225 million.
Aquarius said it would do a buyback after deciding that its level of gearing, with net debt at USD199.3 million at the end of January, was too high for a cyclical commodity producer of its size.
It had intended to buy between USD150.0 million and USD225.0 million of its outstanding convertible bonds. It issued the bonds in December 2009, and about USD298.0 million was outstanding. Aquarius had said uncertainty amongst investors about its ability to refinance the bonds "impacted negatively" on the attractiveness of investing in its shares.
Aquarius Platinum shares last traded at 9 pence each.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @SteveMcGrath1
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