Coronado in biggest coal IPO in Australia

The owners of miner Coronado Global Resources raised about A$774m ($550m) in Australia’s biggest coal initial public offering (IPO) after selling securities at the bottom end of the marketed range, it said on Sunday.

Chess Depositary Interests (CDIs) were sold at A$4 each. They were offered at A$4 to $4.80 apiece, according to a prospectus issued late last month. The bookbuild for the sale on Thursday and Friday came amid a global sell-off in commodity shares.

Trading is scheduled to start on October 23 on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Coronado is the biggest producer of US metallurgical coal, used to make steel.

Majority owned by private equity firm Energy & Minerals Group, it has mines in the US’s central Appalachian region and an operation in Australia’s Bowen Basin.

Coronado decided to list in Australia after a string of bankruptcies soured US investor appetite for coal, CEO Garold Spindler said in September.

“We are very pleased with the make-up of our register and in particular the strong support we have received from highquality resources and incomefocused investors,” chair Greg Martin said in the statement.

Energy & Minerals will retain a 78.9% stake in Coronado, according to the statement, after deciding to sell fewer CDIs than disclosed in the prospectus.

About 193-million CDIs were issued under the offer, down from 290-million.

Coronado’s IPO tops Aston Resources’s A$400m listing in 2010 as Australia’s largest coal float, data compiled by Bloomberg shows.

Goldman Sachs, Bell Potter, UBS and Credit Suisse were joint sale managers.