PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Evolution Mining has priced a $550-million maiden debt private placement in the US.

The transaction is subject to standard closing conditions with proceeds to be drawn in November 2021, the miner told shareholders on Friday.

“We are delighted with the strong level of support from investors for our maiden US private placement. The placement is consistent with our approach of maintaining a strong balance sheet to fund our strategy and enable the business to prosper through the cycle. This transaction also ensures that our debt profile better matches our asset portfolio of long life, high quality operations,” said Evolution FD and CFO Lawrie Conway.

“The completion of the placement will further optimise our balance sheet, repay the existing Red Lake term loan facility and provide us with additional capacity to fund existing and future growth initiatives and maintain flexibility around our dividends.”

Conway said that Evolution had received an investment grade rating from a major reputable ratings agency as a part of the private placement, which was strongly supported by investors with a significant level of oversubscription.

The placement consists of $200-million maturing November 2028 with a fixed rate coupon of 2.83% and $350-million maturing November 2031 with a fixed rate coupon of 3.17%. Evolution has entered into cross currency swaps to hedge the US dollar exposure.

Proceeds will be used to repay the existing term loan facility associated with the acquisition of Red Lake, of around A$450-million, and for general corporate purposes.

The placement will extend Evolution’s debt maturity profile from an average of 2.7 years to 7.1 years.

Conway said that Evolution’s balance sheet is well positioned to fund the recently announced pipeline of growth projects and this placement will more closely align debt maturity with the group’s average mine life.

Following settlement in early November, Evolution will not have any material funding maturities falling due until 2026. The A$360-million revolving credit facility remains undrawn and is available until March 2023.