Glencore Restructures Loans to PolyMet and Acquires Common Share Purchase Warrants
Date: Mar 29, 2018
Glencore AG (“Glencore”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Glencore plc, has entered into an amendment to the purchase agreement with PolyMet Mining Corp. (“PolyMet”) and Poly Met Mining Inc. pursuant to which (i) the maturity of an aggregate of US$152 million of outstanding secured convertible and non-convertible debentures has been extended by 12 months, to March 31, 2019, repayable at any time by PolyMet if it is prudent to do so, and (ii) the interest rate on the debentures has been reduced from 12-month US$ LIBOR plus 15 percent to 12-month US$ LIBOR plus 10 percent. Glencore has also agreed to lend up to an additional US$80 million to PolyMet over the next 12 month in five tranches on the same terms as the existing non-convertible debentures, subject to the terms and conditions of the amendment to purchase agreement.
As partial consideration for the amendments referred to above, PolyMet has agreed to issue an aggregate of 6,458,001 warrants to purchase common shares of PolyMet, with each warrant entitling Glencore to acquire one common share of PolyMet at a price of US$0.8321 per share until March 31, 2019. These warrants replace an aggregate of 6,458,001 warrants that expired December 31, 2017.
Glencore currently holds 92,836,072 common shares of PolyMet, representing approximately 29.1% of PolyMet’s issued and outstanding common shares. Following the extension of maturity and reduction in interest rate referred to above, the number of common shares issuable to Glencore under the exchange warrant issuable upon conversion of the convertible debenture would increase to 45,670,560, which would result in Glencore holding 138,506,632 common shares representing approximately 38.0% of the outstanding common shares of PolyMet (assuming no other shares committed under existing compensation agreements were issued by PolyMet).
