Neometals Ltd A$4 Million Placement and Entitlement Offer

RNS Number : 8547H

Neometals Ltd

11 October 2024

 

NOT FOR RELEASE TO US WIRE SERVICES OR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the UK version of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended ("MAR"). Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

 

 

11 October 2024

Neometals Ltd

("Neometals" or "the Company")

Neometals Successfully Closes A$4 Million Placement and Announces Entitlement Offer

Sustainable process technology developer, Neometals Ltd (ASX: NMT & AIM: NMT) ("Neometals" or "the Company"), is pleased to announce that it has received firm commitments from sophisticated, professional and institutional investors for its placement of 44,444,445 new fully paid ordinary shares (New Shares) at A$0.09 per New Share to raise approximately A$4 million (before costs) (Placement).

Neometals Managing Director Chris Reed commented:

"We are pleased to announce the Entitlement Offer and conclusion of the Placement which was supported by new and existing sophisticated investors and institutions. The capital raising will reinforce commercialisation activities by Neometals' battery recycling plant building joint venture, Primobius, as it delivers its maiden plant for Mercedes-Benz. The successful validation of our process and plant supply business model at scale is the precursor to offering commercial plants to our growing pipeline of current and prospective customers and technology licence holders. Neometals management appreciates the long-term support and efforts of lead manager Euroz Hartleys as well as further investment from existing shareholders.

Placement

A total of 44,444,445 New Shares will be issued under the Placement at a price of A$0.09 per New Share (Offer Price) under NMT's ASX Listing Rule 7.1 placement capacity. The total number of New Shares to be issued under the Placement represents approximately 6.4% per cent of the Company's existing issued share capital (prior to the issue of the New Shares).

New Shares issued under the Placement will rank equally with existing NMT ordinary shares from their date of issue.

Settlement of the Placement is scheduled to occur on Thursday, 17th October 2024. Allotment and normal trading of the New Shares under the Placement is scheduled to occur on Friday, 18th October 2024. New Shares issued under the Placement do not have rights to participate in the Entitlement Offer.

The Company's ordinary shares are expected to resume trading on the ASX from market open today.

Application has been made for the New Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission"), with Admission expected to occur on or around 8.00a.m. on Thursday 17 October 2024. Following Admission of the New Shares, the Company will have 734,342,539 Ordinary Shares in issue and there are no shares held in treasury. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

 

Entitlement Offer

Neometals is also undertaking a 1 for 12 pro rata non-underwritten, non-renounceable entitlement offer to eligible shareholders in Australia and New Zealand (Eligible Shareholders) to raise up to approximately A$5 million (before costs) (Entitlement Offer).

All Neometals Directors intend to participate in the Entitlement Offer either directly or through their associated related entity. The terms and conditions and further details of how to participate in the Entitlement Offer will be set out in an entitlement offer booklet (Offer Booklet) which is expected to be made available to Eligible Shareholders on Monday, 21st October 2024.

Eligible Shareholders as at the Record Date of 5pm (Perth time) on Wednesday, 16th October 2024, with a registered address in Australia or New Zealand, will be invited to participate in the Entitlement Offer at the Offer Price (being the same price as the Placement). The Entitlement Offer is expected to open on Monday, 21st October 2024 and close at 5pm (Perth time) on Wednesday, 30th October 2024 unless extended. As the Entitlement Offer is non-renounceable, entitlements will not be tradeable or otherwise transferable.

Eligible Shareholders are also offered the opportunity to apply for additional new shares in excess of their entitlement, at the Offer Price (subject to compliance with applicable laws and to the terms set out in the Offer Booklet).^[1]

The Offer Booklet will include a personalised entitlement and acceptance form. Copies of the Offer Booklet will also be available on the ASX and the Company's website.

Use of funds

Proceeds from the Placement and Entitlement Offer, together with existing cash on hand, will be primarily used to fund the following:

·      LiB recycling development

·      lithium and vanadium technology research and development

·      Barrambie Gold and Titanium

·      staff, general and administrative costs

Timetable

The indicative timetable for the Placement and Entitlement Offer is set out below:

Event	Date
Announcement of the Entitlement Offer (including the results of the Placement)	Friday, 11 October 2024
Trading halt lifted and NMT shares recommence trading	Friday, 11 October 2024
Record date to determine entitlements for the Entitlement Offer	5pm (Perth time) on Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Settlement of Placement	Thursday, 17 October 2024
Issue of New Shares under the Placement	Friday, 18 October 2024
Entitlement Offer Opening Date Offer Booklet and Entitlement and Acceptance Form made available	Monday, 21 October 2024
Entitlement Offer Closing Date	5pm (Perth time) on Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Announcement of results of Entitlement Offer & Issue of New Shares under the Entitlement Offer	Wednesday, 6 November 2024
Trading of New Shares issued under the Entitlement Offer	Thursday, 7 November 2024

 

All dates and times are indicative only and subject to change. NMT reserves the right to amend any or all of these dates and times subject to the Corporations Act, the Listing Rules and other applicable laws. In particular, NMT reserves the right to extend the Closing Date for the Entitlement Offer, to accept late Applications under the Entitlement Offer (either generally or in particular cases) and to withdraw the Entitlement Offer without prior notice. Any extension of the closing date of the Entitlement Offer will have a consequential effect on the allotment date of New Shares under the Entitlement Offer.

Euroz Hartleys Limited is acting as the lead manager, bookrunner and agent of the Company (Lead Manager) in connection with the Placement and the Entitlement Offer. Herbert Smith Freehills is acting as legal adviser.

Further details in relation to the Placement and Entitlement Offer are contained in the equity raising presentation that was released to the ASX on Friday 11th October 2024 (link) and the Offer Booklet which is expected to be made available to Eligible Shareholders on Monday, 21st October 2024.

Authorised for release by the Board of Neometals Ltd.

 

- ENDS -

For more information, please contact:

 

Neometals Ltd
Chris Reed, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer	[phone]
Chris Kelsall, CFO & Company Secretary	[phone]
Cavendish Capital Markets Ltd - NOMAD & Broker
Neil McDonald	[phone]
Peter Lynch	[phone]
Adam Rae	[phone]

About Neometals

Neometals facilitates sustainable critical material supply chains and reduces the environmental burden of traditional mining in the global transition to a circular economy.

The Company is commercialising a portfolio of sustainable processing solutions that recycle and recover critical materials from high-value waste streams.

·      Neometals' core focus is its patented, Lithium-ion Battery ("LiB") Recycling technology (50% NMT), being commercialised in a 50:50 incorporated JV (Primobius GmbH) with 150-year-old German plant builder, SMS group GmbH. Primobius is supplying Mercedes-Benz a 2,500tpa recycling plant and operates its own LiB Disposal Service in Germany. Primobius' first 21,000tpa commercial plant will be offered to Stelco under an existing technology licence for North America.

Neometals is developing two advanced battery materials technologies for commercialisation under low-risk, low-capex technology licensing business models:

·      Lithium Chemicals (70% NMT) - Patented ELi™ electrolysis process, co-owned 30% by Mineral Resources Ltd, to produce battery quality lithium hydroxide from brine and/or hard-rock feedstocks at lowest quartile operating costs. Pilot scale test work and Engineering Cost Study update planned for completion in DecQ 2024; and

 

·      Vanadium Recovery (100% NMT) - Patent pending hydrometallurgical process to produce high-purity vanadium pentoxide from steelmaking by-product ("Slag") at lowest-quartile operating cost and carbon footprint.

 

For further information, visit: www.neometals.com.au.

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[1] Additional New Shares will only be available where there is a shortfall between applications received from Eligible Shareholders and the number of New Shares proposed to be issued under the Entitlement Offer. NMT retains the flexibility to scale back applications for additional New Shares at its discretion.

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