FNI raises P517.5M in funds

GLOBAL Ferronickel Holdings, Inc. (FNI) raised more than P500 million as it completed its followon offering last week, which will be used to pay for its $10-million working capital loan.

The firm sold shares worth P517.5 million during the offer period that ended on July 13, it said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

This is equivalent to 250,000,000 common shares sold at an offer price of P2.07 per share.

Of the shares sold, corporations bought the lion’s share at P515.54 million while individuals picked up an accumulated P1.958million worth of stocks.

The total outstanding capital stock of FNI after the offer totalled 5,593,853,399 shares, it said in the filing.

In a text message yesterday, FNI President Lawyer Dante R. Bravo said the funds raised will be used to pre-pay a $10 million loan from the Taiwan Cooperative Bank by Platinum Group Metals Corp., the firm’s subsidiary which handles FNI’s lone operational mine — the 4,376- hectare Cagdianao mine project in Surigao del Norte. The deadline for payment is by yearend.

Although the funds raised from the offering is less than the P1 billion the firm initially sought, Mr. Bravo said: “What we raised is already sufficient for our needs.”

FNI posted a net income of P779.7 million last year, an increase by over 20 times from the 2016 level. The firm expects a flat performance this year notwithstanding sustained demand from China and favorable nickel prices as it bears the impacts of a tighter regulatory requirement which includes higher excise taxes.

The company is targeting to ship six million wet metric tons of nickel this year, which will be subject to weather conditions. —