Mining
Lucapa Diamond Company has secured the backing of new and existing long-term investors for a $16.5 million cash injection without even offering a discount.
The placement will see the addition of a new cornerstone investor to the company’s (ASX:LOM) register.
Lucapa shares added 6.5 per cent on Monday morning to trade at 24.5c.
Three major investors have collectively committed to invest $13 million at the prevailing market closing price of 23c.
The placement was also strongly supported by a Perth-based investment fund, Lucapa said.
While Lucapa could not reveal who the new backer would be, Mark Drummond – head of investor relations – told Stockhead the cornerstone stake will be “close to 10 per cent”.
“If anyone puts a major placement away at market with no other sweeteners like options in this environment, I think that’s an exceptional outcome,” Mr Drummond said.
“It also illustrates the support from major backers for the company and what it’s doing.”
Lucapa has appointed Perth-based Euroz Securities as its financial advisor to target increased institutional and large fund interest.
The capital raising will allow Lucapa to immediately begin a follow-up exploration program, including further drilling, at the Brooking diamond discovery in Western Australia’s West Kimberley region.
The company is further investigating the potential of the Little Spring Creek discovery, where 119 micro and macro diamonds were recovered from an 86.8kg sample, including white and yellow diamonds.
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Lucapa says the diamonds are similar to the nearby Ellendale mine, which when in production produced more than half of the world’s annual supply of fancy yellow diamonds.
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