Belgium’s Umicore has raised nearly EUR900 million ($1.1 billion) in a shares sale to fund potential future acquisitions and boost investments in cathode materials.
The Brussels-based global materials technology and recycling firm sold 10% of its shares in a block trade on 8 February.
Company CEO Marc Grynberg said the new equity was raised “in about two-and-a-half hours, despite a challenging climate in global equity markets”.
The response was “a clear vote of confidence of our investors in the strategy and positioning of Umicore”, Grynberg said.
According to Umicore, the proceeds of the “accelerated bookbuild will be used to fund growth investments, particularly in cathode materials”. The cash will also “provide Umicore with more financial flexibility to pursue potential acquisitions and partnerships that would further strengthen its offering in clean mobility materials and recycling”.
Payment and delivery of the new shares is expected to take place on 12 February and an application will be made for the new shares to be admitted to trading on Euronext Brussels the same day.
The Umicore group generated turnover of EUR12.3bn (EUR2.9bn excluding metal) in 2017 and currently employs 9,700.
Umicore said last year it intended to invest EUR300m between 2017 and 2019 to further increase its production of NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt) cathode materials for lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.
Last month, the group broke ground in China for a new battery materials plant as part of a EUR360m expansion programme.
