Atlantic Coal (LON:ATC) said this morning it has raised £12 million via a placing with selected institutional investors which will be used to fund acquisitions.
The company says it is evaluating a number of potential deals.
A total of 1.6 billion shares were issued to institutions including the Blackrock Smaller Companies fund, while Atlantic’s directors also participated in the fundraising at 0.75 pence a share.
Allenby Capital acted as lead broker, while Cornhill Capital and FoxDavies acted as co-broker to the share issue. Atlantic will receive £11.4 million after expenses.
“The directors believe that there is an opportunity to raise funds from a small number of institutional and other investors at the present time,” the company said in a statement to investors.
“The directors have therefore decided to effect the fundraising by way of the placing following a limited and targeted marketing exercise, rather than by offering all shareholders the opportunity to acquire further shares.
“The directors believe that the additional cost and delay incurred in connection with any such offer would not have been in the best interests of the company.”
The group owns the Stockton mine in Pennsylvania, which produces anthracite for the domestic market.
Boss Steve Best has always believed Atlantic could be a consolidator in the region.
“What I like about Pennsylvania is there are more sites and opportunities than we need to fulfil our ambitions,” he said in a recent interview with Proactive Investors.
“You could easily produce one million tonnes and have no problems selling it.
“The worst case scenario is we will produce 170,000 tonnes of clean coal from Stockton (next year) where we are already committed to selling to existing customers.
“That will throw out a decent amount of money. If our bigger picture idea comes off it will change the whole perspective of the company.
“Plan B is we acquire perhaps one site or two on our own."