RE: NO PROSPECTUS THEREFORE...19 Jul 2019 15:35
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour.
https://www.ft.com/content/081e36c6-aa24-11e9-b6ee-3cdf3174eb89
Sirius Minerals has launched a high-yield bond offering, a crucial part of the funding package for the giant fertiliser mine it is building under the North York Moors.
The London-listed company needs to raise $500m from the debt market so that it can unlock a $2.5bn credit facility being provided by JPMorgan and complete development of the mine, one of the biggest civil engineering projects in the UK.
The bond is understood to have been rated single B by two credit rating agencies — well within speculative, or junk, territory — and the offering needs to be completed by the end of September, otherwise the company will run out of cash. However, Sirius hopes to complete the sale well before the deadline. A marketing campaign for the bond will start in London on Friday.
Woodsmith is the largest mine to be built in the UK for a generation and could employ about 1,000 people after construction. The project involves sinking two 1.5km shafts below a national park on the North York Moors to access a huge deposit of polyhalite, a mineral that can be used as fertiliser.
Sirius will then move the ore to a port on Teesside via a nearby 40km underground tunnel.
First production at the Woodsmith mine is expected in 2021, with output increasing to 10m tonnes by 2024. The company’s supporters say it will be one of the most profitable fertiliser producers in the world when the mine is up and running.
Sign In
Follow the stocks
