ARMS ponders equity issue proposal
Tuesday, November 18 2014 - 01:30 AM WIB
London-listed mining firm Asia Resource Minerals plc (ARMS) confirmed Monday recent press reports that it has received a proposal from key shareholder Nathaniel Rothschild for the company to raise funds via equity issue for debt refinancing and indicated his potential interest in underwriting the issue.
?As the company confirmed on November 12, recent shareholder developments have changed the potential options available to the company for refinancing and the board will update the market in due course,? ARMS said in a statement.
Rothschild, the second largest shareholder in ARMS with a 17.5 percent stake, reportedly has proposed for ARMS to conduct rights issue or private placement to raise funds to repay the debt of its IDX-listed coal mining subsidiary PT Berau Coal Energy Tbk worth US$950 million, which has huge interest rate burden undermining the firm?s finances. ARMS controls 85 percent shares of Berau Coal.
Kontan said on Tuesday that ARMS? largest shareholder, Raiffeisen Bank, which holds 23.8 percent stake in the company, has yet to respond to the proposal.
Rothschild, however, is confident that the proposal would be approved, hoping that it could be realized in the first quarter of 2015.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak