Didcot based Altus raises close to £20 million to grow

Published by

Nicky Godding

Didcot-based mining royalty company Altus Strategies has raised £19.8 million in the placing of shares with new and existing investors.

The company generates royalties on its own discoveries, as well as through financings and acquisitions with third parties. Altus holds a portfolio of base and precious metal projects across Africa.

Steve Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus, said: “We are delighted with the response to our fundraise of gross proceeds of £19.8 million (approximately US$26.1 million) at a price of 53.5p per share. On behalf of the board, I take this opportunity to welcome our new shareholders to the company and to thank our existing shareholders, including La Mancha, for their continued strong support of the business.

“The completion of this Fundraise allows Altus to rapidly move forward with the completion of our recently announced proposed acquisition of a diversified and gold focussed portfolio of up to 24 royalties from Newcrest for $24 million. The portfolio includes royalties over two producing gold mines, one near-production gold mine as well as up to 15 development stage projects and six exploration stage projects, with 23 of the royalties being in Australia and one in Côte d’Ivoire.

“Altus is building a differentiated royalty business, where our shareholders not only have exposure to immediate and long term royalty cash flows from established operating mines globally, but also the substantial upside from our high impact ‘boots on the ground’ royalty creation strategies across Africa. I look forward to updating shareholders on the proposed royalty acquisition shortly.”

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.