Sirius says open offer closes over-subscribed

21st May 2019 By: Mariaan Webb - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

The placing and open offer through which Sirius Minerals aimed to raise about $400-million, for the potash mine, in North Yorkshire, has been over-subscribed, the London-listed company reported on Tuesday.

The company raised $425-million in the offer, which formed part of the $3.8-billion funding package that Sirius announced at the end of last month to fund the construction of its Woodsmith polyhalite mine.

The open offer was launched on April 30 at a price of between 15p and 18p a share. When the offer closed on Monday, Sirius had received valid acceptances in respect of 218 048 057 open offer shares, representing 100% of the shares available.

"We are encouraged by the oversubscribed open offer, which underlines the strong equity market support for our comprehensive marketsā€led solution for stage 2 funding.

“We now turn our focus to delivering the next phase of the funding package, with planning for the high-yield bond well under way," commented MD and CEO Chris Fraser.

The Woodsmith project area is said to contain the largest, highest grade resource of polyhalite to be found anywhere in the world at 2.66-billion tonnes.

The Woodsmith mine is expected to operate at ten-million tons a year by 2024, expanding to 20-million tons a year by 2029. Construction of the mine started in May 2017.