Australian innovator Altech Chemicals Ltd. said this week that it has begun a planned US$144 million listed green bond offering in conjunction with Britain’s Bedford Row Capital Plc and Australia’s Bluemont Capital.
According to the firm, the main aim of the bond offering is to secure further funding of its high-purity alumina (HPA) processing plant in Johor, Malaysia. So far various reviews of the legal, ESG, financial, and related aspects of the deal have been completed, and over 80 other firms have shown serious interest in participating in the bond offering.
Altech expects to raise US$144 million from the bond offering, US$100 million of which will be used as secondary financing for its HPA plant project, and the remainder to be used for interest on the bond. The bonds will be issued by the UK’s Sustainable Capital Plc, while KfW IPEX-Bank will secure the bond with a senior project finance commitment of US$190 million.
Altech says it continues to search for an equity partner who will offer US$100 million in project-level equity finance in exchange for a 49-percent equity stake in the project.
Altech Chemicals is based in Subiaco, Western Australia and is attempting to implement a marketable process for delivering 99.99% (4N) HPA using conventional equipment at a lower production cost than methods currently available. It plans to construct a 4,500 metric ton per annum HPA plant at Tanjung Langsat Industrial Complex, Johor, Malaysia that will use kaolin clay from a company-owned mine in Meckering, Western Australia. The firm is fast-tracking HPA production due to an agreement with Mitsubishi for 100% of its proposed HPA production for ten years.