The Ioneer Ltd (ASX: INR) share price fell hard on open this morning and is down 12.5% at the time of writing.
The lithium-boron producer emerged from a 2-day trading halt today, which it had requested pending the release of details regarding a capital raise.
What did Ioneer report?
The Ioneer share price is tumbling in morning trade after the company reported it had completed an $80 million placement.
Citing strong demand from its current shareholders alongside new investors, Ioneer increased the fully underwritten institutional placement from the initially planned $60 million up to $80 million.
Ioneer said it had strong backing from high-quality international institutions with cornerstone investment provided by BNP Paribas Energy Transition Fund.
The new capital will be put to work to speed up the development of Ioneer's Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project, in the US state of Nevada.
New shares will be issued at 38 cents, some 14% below the 44-cent closing price on Tuesday, the last day of trading before the company entered a trading halt. Ioneer said it expects the new shares to be issued and start trading next Wednesday 10 March.
A word from management
Commenting on the $80 million placement, Ioneer managing director Bernard Rowe said:
We are extremely pleased with the exceptionally strong reaction for our capital raising, which demonstrates the high quality of the Rhyolite Ridge Project based on the support from high quality domestic and international investor groups.
Rhyolite Ridge remains the most advanced and highest quality lithium project in the US, and with these additional funds we look forward to rapidly closing out a number of key value-adding milestones over the course of 2021 as we move quickly towards production and becoming a major part in the US lithium supply chain.
Ioneer share price snapshot
Despite this morning's falls, Ioneer shares have gained 126% over the past 12 months. By comparison, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is up 7% over that same period.
Year to date, the Ioneer share price is up by 37%.
