Optimum Coal Plans Johannesburg Listing To Raise Capital
Feb/03/2010 | Under Coal Mine - Companies - Energy - Exploration
Optimum Coal Holdings Ltd., a coal mining concern owned by black South Africans, Monday said it plans to float on the Johannesburg bourse during the first half of the year in order to raise capital.
The company has applied to list its shares on the main board of the JSE Ltd., and said a prospectus including full details of its offer will be published in due course.
Optimum Coal is one of the country’s largest coal mining companies with operations located mainly in the Witbank coalfield region of South Africa’s Mpumalanga province.
Its operations include Optimum Collieries, a large opencast and underground mining complex comprised of four coal production areas with a reserve base in excess of 270 million metric tons of run-of-mine coal, of which 191 million tons are classified as saleable. The company sold 9.3 million tons of coal in the year through June, of which 45% was exported.
Optimum Coal said the net proceeds of its listing will be used to fund capital requirements, repay debt and fund potential acquisitions. The company has appointed Morgan Stanley and Rand Merchant Bank as joint advisors and joint bookrunners of the proposed offer.
“A listing will be a major milestone for the company. It will improve our access to capital, raise our profile and help retain talent and skills necessary for operations of our scale,” said Chief Executive Officer Mike Teke.