Cap Raise Crucible: Gold books, big fees and bruised punters

The capital-raising circus has rolled through another busy fortnight, with gold companies chasing serious money, brokers collecting plum mandates and two small IPOs producing extraordinary rewards for the corporate hounds who got them away.

At the top of the broking tree, Argonaut Securities continued its particularly productive run.

The Perth broker joined Barrenjoey Markets on Wiluna Mining’s monster $180 million float before teaming up with Canaccord Genuity on Ballard Mining’s $45 million placement, leaving its fingerprints on $225 million of gold-sector fundraising. CommSec appeared on both tickets.

Taylor Collison secured Maronan Metals’ $20 million mandate, while Euroz Hartleys joined Canaccord on Torque Metals’ $25 million placement.

Across the Pacific, Baird and Lake Street Capital Markets helped Amaero International raise US$20 million (A$28.7 million), collecting US$1.4 million in underwriting commissions.

Further down the food chain, Aesir Corporate, GBA Capital, Veritas Securities, Prenzler Group, Morgans and Ord Minnett joined the action.

However, the smaller transactions produced some of the meatiest broker arithmetic, with cash-and-options packages approaching eye-watering percentages of the money raised.

The aftermarket told a different story by 10am Perth time on Friday. Just two of the ten stocks examined were trading above their issue prices, while eight were underwater, including one placement still awaiting shareholder approval.

A few punters were celebrating spectacular gains. Most discovered that an IPO or discounted placement could become an even bigger bargain once trading began.

Welcome back to the Crucible.

WILUNA MINING (ASX: WMC)

Raised: $180 million
Issue price: 65c
Friday morning price: 50.5c
Return against issue: −22.3%

Wiluna Mining supplied the heavyweight transaction, with Barrenjoey and Argonaut sharing joint lead-manager duties on the 7.1-million-ounce gold company’s $180 million return to the ASX.

CommSec joined as co-manager, giving the non-underwritten float a formidable broking line-up.

Wiluna’s return offered investors yet another crack at one of Western Australia’s better-known goldfields, with fresh capital providing financial muscle for its next chapter.

While the brokers had plenty to celebrate, Wiluna’s new shareholders were calling for the nurse.

The stock closed its first session at 56 cents, a bruising 13.8 per cent below its 65-cent IPO price, before sliding to 50.5 cents in Friday morning trading.

That left the company’s hard-bitten thrill seekers in intensive care, cradling a painful 22.3 per cent paper loss barely out of the starting blocks.

Wiluna strikes again!

That’s an uncomfortable contrast against $8.5 million in budgeted joint lead-manager fees, including third-party advisers, and 5.24 million three-year broker options exercisable at 84.5 cents.

The options may be well out of the money, but the cash-fee budget makes uncomfortably short reading alongside the much longer list of injured punters.

BALLARD MINING (ASX: BM1)

Raised: $45 million
Issue price: 66c
Discount: 7.7%
Friday morning price: 60.5c
Return against issue: −8.3%

Argonaut backed up its Wiluna assignment by joining Canaccord as joint lead manager and bookrunner on Ballard Mining’s $45 million placement, with CommSec again co-managing.

The trio placed 68.2 million shares at 66 cents, a 7.7 per cent discount to the previous close and a hefty 16.2 per cent haircut to the 10-day volume-weighted average price.

The proceeds are slated to advance Ballard’s 1.84-million-ounce Mt Ida gold project in Western Australia, funding studies, early works and infrastructure planning.

An accompanying share purchase plan (SPP) targeted another $5 million, with scope for $5 million in oversubscriptions. Ballard estimated its bank balance could reach a tidy $94.1 million if the targeted SPP proceeds jumped into the tin.

But while the brokers filled the book, the aftermarket was less accommodating.

By Friday morning, Ballard had slipped to 60.5 cents, leaving applicants with their noses 8.3 per cent below the waterline.

Argonaut and Canaccord no doubt celebrated their success. However, the market has yet to see the champagne corks popping.

AMAERO INTERNATIONAL (ASX: 3DA)

Raised: US$20 million (A$28.7M)
Offer price: US$4.25 per US share, equivalent to 15.22c per ASX CDI
Discount: 1.8%
Friday morning ASX price: 19c
Return against offer: +24.8%

Amaero International took its capital-raising ambitions to Wall Street, with Baird leading a US$20 million (A$28.7M) public offering and Lake Street joining as additional bookrunner.

And the American brokers were hardly working for loose change.

Underwriting discounts and commissions totalled US$1.4 million, seven per cent of gross proceeds, or about A$2 million at the original exchange rate.

The underwriters also secured a 30-day option to purchase another 705,882 offer shares, potentially adding another US$3 million (A$4.3 million) before expenses. That’s an option to buy additional shares, not free broker oppies.

Amaero issued 4.71 million US common shares at US$4.25 each, equivalent to 15.22 Australian cents per ASX CDI using a 40-to-one conversion.

Up to US$10 million is earmarked for manufacturing equipment, with the balance available for working capital and research.

Unlike Ballard and Wiluna, Amaero’s investors weren’t looking for something stronger than Nurofen or intensive care.

The CDIs traded at 19 cents on Friday morning, putting subscribers 24.8 per cent ahead.

A healthy underwriting commission and a positive return for investors. Everyone gets a slice of cake.

Back home, Canaccord and Euroz joined forces on Torque Metals’ $25 million placement, with Morgans co-managing.

The trio placed shares at 19 cents, a 7.3 per cent discount, to fund Torque’s Ritz gold project southeast of Kalgoorlie.

Unfortunately, the shares had slipped to 16.5 cents by Friday morning, leaving gold bugs 13.2 per cent underwater and needing a Bex and a lie-down.

Taylor Collison, meanwhile, secured the lead-manager chair on Maronan Metals’ $20 million placement at 40 cents, a tight 2.3 per cent discount to the five-day VWAP.

Major shareholder Kinterra Capital lifted its holding to 22.99 per cent, with proceeds earmarked for drilling, engineering and permitting at Maronan’s Cloncurry silver-lead-copper-gold project.

There is a catch. The placement requires shareholder approval on November 4, making the $20 million a conditional commitment rather than a completed fundraising.

With Maronan trading at 38.5 cents, its proposed issue price sat 3.8 per cent above market, leaving punters twisting in the warm wind of uncertainty.

As usual, the most eye-catching broker rewards were tucked away in the smaller floats.

Identifai Genetics raised $10 million at 20 cents for its October ASX debut, with Aesir Corporate as lead manager.

Aesir secured a six per cent cash fee worth $600,000, plus 10,154,970 April 2029 options exercisable at 25 cents, valued in the prospectus at a staggering $899,000.

Yep, you read it right!

Combined, the cash commission and estimated option value approached $1.5 million, roughly 15 per cent of IPO proceeds—hats off to the Aesir corporate department for bagging that one.

Not all cash, of course. The options’ ultimate value depends on the share price, but it was still a mighty sweet package.

And the punters were celebrating too.

At 10am Friday, Identifai traded at 49 cents, putting subscribers an astonishing 145 per cent ahead on their 20-cent bets; that’s some serious aftermarket fireworks. Grab a calculator and do the maths on Aesir’s take, with the shares trading significantly — and I mean significantly — above Aesir’s option exercise price.

If you thought Aesir set a new benchmark for broker fees, Europa Metals demonstrated how a smaller float could produce even bigger percentages.

Europa joined the ASX on October 16 after raising $4 million at 20 cents, with GBA Capital as lead manager.

GBA collected a six per cent cash fee worth $240,000 and five million broker options exercisable at 30 cents and expiring in October 2028, valued in the prospectus at around $561,000.

Together, the cash fee and estimated option value reached $801,000, equivalent to 20 per cent of IPO proceeds.

Get me the manager!

Again, option valuations are not cash in the bank. Europa traded at 19.5 cents on Friday morning, leaving subscribers 2.5 per cent underwater and GBA’s options out of the money.

One float delivered a 145 per cent investor gain, while the other slipped below issue price. Yet both brokers secured eye-watering packages.

The Crucible wonders whether this might become the new norm?

Veritas and Prenzler shared joint lead-manager duties on Cooper Metals’ $2.15 million placement, collecting a six per cent fee and four million broker options.

Veritas also fully underwrote the $2.7 million entitlement issue for another six per cent, six million options and six million facilitation shares worth $450,000 at the 7.5-cent issue price.

All up, that’s more than $290,000 in cash fees and $450,000 in facilitation-share value, plus 10 million broker options exercisable at 15 cents over three years.

The facilitation shares carry 12 months’ escrow and the securities packages require shareholder approval.

That’s a cash-and-share remuneration package valued at about $741,000 using the issue price, before putting a value on the options — a staggering potential payday for arranging a raising worth less than $5 million. Let’s see if it gets waived through.

The money will support Cooper’s Philippine Colet copper-gold project, although its 7.2-cent Friday morning price left placees four per cent underwater.

Not every company needed a conventional brokered book.

Azzuro Resources secured $3.06 million through a strategic placement to Hong Kong-based Kerry Resources Logistics at 1.5 cents per CDI, a seven per cent premium to the previous close.

Not a fee in sight.

Kerry is expected to emerge holding about 19.9 per cent, with a potential board nomination. But Azzuro’s 1.4-cent Friday price left the investment 6.7 per cent worse off.

Recharge Metals took the conventional route, with Canaccord and Ord Minnett jointly managing a $4.13 million placement at 3.6 cents, carrying broker fees of up to five per cent.

The issue price represented a 2.5 per cent discount to the pre-halt 10-day VWAP, with funds supporting the Sunset Well gold and Brandy Hill South copper-tungsten projects.

Recharge traded at 3.2 cents on Friday morning, leaving thrill seekers 11.1 per cent in the red.

And that neatly captured the fortnight.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au