PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Alto Metals has secured an additional A$1-million short-term, unsecured bridge loan facility from shareholder Harvest Lane Asset Management.
Alto said on Tuesday that the funding would allow the company to continue with its exploration work and to meet working capital requirements while the Takeovers Panel considers an application by suitor Habrok to prevent Alto from raising cash.
The directors of Alto have previously urged shareholders not to accept a takeover offer from Habrok, under which the suitor was offering 6.6c a share, with the company instead opting to raise some A$5.1-million through a one-for-four pro-rata accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer.
The Takeovers Panel has issued interim orders for Alto to defer the entitlement offer until a determination could be made.
“We are pleased to have negotiated this bridge facility with Harvest Lane, who are supportive of our strategy, and the majority of our shareholders want to see Alto continue with our planned drilling and exploration activities and not be impeded by further delays due to securing funding,” said Alto MD Matthew Bowles.
“We look forward to having the deferral of the entitlement issue resolved quickly so that we may more appropriately fund our exploration strategy and focus on significantly increasing our drilling activity at Lord Nelson and the multiple other targets at the Sandstone gold project.”
The loan facility will have an 8% a year interest rate and all monies under the facility are payable on August 11, 2021.