Sirius Minerals announced it has received an alternative financing proposal, sending shares upwards during Tuesday trading.
The London-listed fertiliser development company said it had paused debt financing talks with prospective lenders after it received an alternative proposal.
Sirius Minerals the proposal would replace a $3 billion multi-tranche structure that was changed on the 22nd January of this year.
The statement added:
“The Company believes that the Alternative Proposal potentially offers a more flexible and attractive solution to its stage 2 financing requirements and therefore it is pausing discussions with its existing prospective lenders to pursue the Alternative Proposal.
A number of options for the additional non-senior debt financing requirement, as previously outlined in the Company’s announcement of 6 September 2018, continue to be progressed.”
Sirius Minerals added that the alternative proposal is subject to the finalisation of due diligence and further internal approvals.
Back in January, the company updated the market on progress during its fourth quarter. Alongside progressing talks with lenders, highlights included ‘significant construction progress’ during the period, the competition of procurement for major construction packages, as well as completion of the Cibra strategic investment.
At the time of the trading update, Chris Fraser, CEO of Sirius Minerals, commented on progress:
“2018 was a year of significant progress for the Company. Completion of procurement to support the stage 2 financing and the signing of an additional 4.8 Mtpa of take-or-pay supply agreements, have been substantial achievements. Considerable progress has been made across all our construction sites and development activities are advancing at pace. More than 800 people are now employed on the Project, demonstrating the transformational potential for jobs and growth in the local area.
“Executing our stage 2 financing plan remains our priority. We continue to make progress towards obtaining stage 2 financing commitments and are working constructively with all relevant parties to achieve this. The process with the lenders is continuing this quarter as we work through the due diligence reports with the lending group and progress discussions on the revised debt structure.”
Sirius Minerals operations are focused at its Woodsmith mine in North Yorkshire.
Shares in the FTSE-250 company (LON:SSX) are currently +9.15% as of 13:08PM (GMT).