ALTECH BATTERIES LIMITED 
Altech has been working with London based structuring agent, Bedford Row Capital PLC (Bedford Row) and Bluemount Capital (WA) Pty Ltd (Bluemount) to prepare for the green bond offering. Extensive due diligence has been completed, including financial, legal and environmental social governance. Legal counsels from various jurisdictions have now completed their respective reviews of documentation, and the bond issue process will shortly move from the preparation phase to marketing and finally initiation.
The initiation phase of the offering will include the distribution of comprehensive corporate presentation packs and will be followed by detailed briefings to potential subscribers. As is customary with these types of offerings, it is anticipated that subscriptions for the bonds will be received in several tranches over a period of months, rather than as a single tranche and closing for the entire US$144 million offering amount. Bedford Row has reported that its initial preliminary marketing ("soft sounding") during the preparation phase had been positive.
Altech is aiming to raise US$144m from this bond issue (Series 2021-F3 Notes), of which US$100m will be used as secondary debt for construction of its Johor HPA plant, with the balance of US$44m to service bond coupon (interest) during the HPA plant's construction phase - see Figure 1*. The bonds will be issued by Sustainable Capital PLC, incorporated in United Kingdom, a dedicated green bond issuance platform (www.sustainablecapitalplc.com). The bonds will be second lien to the senior project finance of US$190m that has already been committed by German government owned KfW IPEX-Bank.
Background
Increasingly green bonds are being used to finance new and existing projects which deliver environmental benefits and a more sustainable economy. As announced on 20 May 2020, Altech's HPA project has been formally assessed as "green" by the independent Centre of International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO) based in Oslo, Norway. Compared to conventional HPA processing, Altech's disruptive HPA production technology is estimated to deliver a ~49% reduction in the comparable carbon footprint, and use ~41% less energy. Also, the primary end-use for Altech's HPA is targeted for climate change products, such as LEDs lights and lithium-ion batteries.
As illustrated in Figure 1 in link below, Sustainable Capital PLC is the bond Issuer. From a US$144m issue, US$44m would be retained by the SPV to service bond coupon (interest) payments during the period of Altech's HPA plant's construction and commissioning. The US$100m balance of proceeds is lent by the SPV Co. to Altech's Malaysian subsidiary (Altech Chemicals Sdn. Bhd.) to part-fund plant construction costs and/or for working capital. It is envisaged that the bond will be for an initial 5-year term, and typical of this type of funding would likely be re-financed at a lower coupon (interest rate) towards the end of the term. Sustainable Capital PLC would take second lien security behind senior lender KfW IPEX-Bank.
*To view tables and figures, please visit:
https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/3GR76Y9D
About Altech Chemicals Ltd:
Altech Chemicals Limited (ASX:ATC) (FRA:A3Y) is aiming to become one of the world's leading suppliers of 99.99% (4N) high purity alumina (Al2O3) through the construction and operation of a 4,500tpa high purity alumina (HPA) processing plant at Johor, Malaysia. Feedstock for the plant will be sourced from the Company's 100%-owned kaolin deposit at Meckering, Western Australia and shipped to Malaysia.
HPA is a high-value, high margin and highly demanded product as it is the critical ingredient required for the production of synthetic sapphire. Synthetic sapphire is used in the manufacture of substrates for LED lights, semiconductor wafers used in the electronics industry, and scratch-resistant sapphire glass used for wristwatch faces, optical windows and smartphone components. Increasingly HPA is used by lithium-ion battery manufacturers as the coating on the battery's separator, which improves performance, longevity and safety of the battery. With global HPA demand approximately 19,000t (2018), it is estimated that this demand will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30% (2018-2028); by 2028 HPA market demand will be approximately 272,000t, driven by the increasing adoption of LEDs worldwide as well as the demand for HPA by lithium-ion battery manufacturers to serve the surging electric vehicle market.
Source:
Altech Chemicals Ltd
Contact:
Corporate Iggy Tan Managing Director Altech Chemicals Limited Tel: +61-8-6168-1555 Email: info@altechchemicals.com Shane Volk Company Secretary Altech Chemicals Limited Tel: +61-8-6168-1555 Email: info@altechchemicals.com Investor Relations (Europe) Kai Hoffmann Soar Financial Partners Tel: +49-69-175-548320 Email: hoffmann@soarfinancial.com
