Piedmont Lithium welcomes strong support for A$45 million Sayona Mining placement

Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX:PLL) (NASDAQ:PLL) (OTCMKTS:PLLTL) (FRA:6S3A) has welcomed strong support for Sayona Mining Ltd’s (ASX:SYA) (OTCMKTS:DMNXF) (FRA:DML) A$45 million placement. 

The placement forms part of a broader A$50 million capital raising plan, comprising the A$45 million institutional placement and a A$5 million share purchase plan, which will support a key acquisition and boost the emerging Abitibi lithium hub in Quebéc.

NAL bid

Together, Piedmont and Sayona are advancing a bid for North American Lithium (NAL), which owns a large, previously producing lithium asset not far from Sayona’s own project. 

If the acquisition proceeds, Sayona will refurbish NAL’s facilities and integrate the target’s operation with its own flagship Authier Lithium Project to form the Abitbi lithium hub. 

Two weeks ago, the companies received Superior Court approval for their C$94 million bid for NAL. 

Funding supports purpose-built lithium hub to supply “North American electric vehicle revolution” 

World-scale Abibiti lithium hub

Speaking to the placement’s success, Sayona’s managing director Brett Lynch said: “We are delighted by the support for the placement from major and new institutional investors in Canada, the United States, Asia and Australia as we build our institutional shareholder base.

“The capital raising has been structured to ensure retail shareholders have the same opportunity to participate and we look forward to undertaking the SPP on the same terms as the placement.

“This new funding will allow us to finalise our acquisition of North American Lithium, a key part of our Québec growth strategy, supporting the development of a world-scale Abibiti lithium hub that is purpose-built to supply the North American electric vehicle revolution.”

A$45 million placement

The bulk of the capital raise was conducted via a two-tranche institutional placement, issuing 600 million shares at 7.5 cents each to raise A$45 million.

The first tranche raised A$31.8 million and issued more than 423 million SYA shares, while tranche two — which requires shareholder approval — will raise the remaining A$13.2 million and issue more than 176 million shares.

Promisingly, Sayona’s placement was significantly oversubscribed, with financial support garnered from a series of investors across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

The placement share price was calculated at a 19.1% discount to the five-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of 9.3 cents per share and a 4.7% discount to the 15-day VWAP of 7.9 cents per share.

Piedmont Lithium, which is already a major Sayona shareholder and is acting as the company’s strategic partner, subscribed for A$8 million worth of SYA shares.

A$5 million share purchase plan

To ensure retail investors also got the chance to increase their holding, Sayona will also conduct a share purchase plan (SPP) to raise up to A$5 million.

Further details on the offer will be dispatched to shareholders around July 21, with the offer set to open on the same date.

The SPP is poised to close almost a month later, with results anticipated on Friday, August 20.

Following that, shares should settle and be issued to investors the following Monday, with quotation on the ASX expected on August 24.

Story by ProactiveInvestors