NORTHAM Platinum said today access to funds had increased to R11bn after increasing its five year rolling credit facility by R2.85bn to R10bn.
Existing general banking facilities total R1bn.
As part of the refinancing announcement, it also said a R2.45bn term loan facility had been fully settled and cancelled. This loan had a staggered maturity profile of four equal tranches ending in August 2027.
“The restructured and increased banking facilities provide the group with additional liquidity and financial flexibility,” said Alet Coetzee, Northam’s CFO in an announcement.
In April, Northam shocked the market by announcing the withdrawal of a takeover offer for Royal Bafokeng Platinum owing to a slump in metal prices.
Triggered by a major correction in the price of rhodium, which has dragged down the average rand basket price for platinum group metals (PGMs), Northam said it had notified RBPlat shareholders its offer has been terminated “with immediate effect”.
The rand basket price of PGMs had fallen about 37% over the last year despite severe supply-side interruptions including loadshedding in South Africa and sanctions on metal produced in Russia. There is evidence Russian metal is being re-routed to China.
The decline is due to major corrections in rhodium and palladium. Regarding the latter, there has been evidence of switching by automakers to cheaper platinum.
The rhodium market was disturbed after a Japanese manufacturer returned an estimated R8bn worth of the metal – about 50,000 ounces – to the market.
