HONG KONG – (ACN Newswire) – Yancoal Australia Ltd (“Yancoal” or the “Company”, Stock code: 3668.HK) successfully listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (“HKEx”) yesterday (“HK Listing”). With the HK Listing, Yancoal, Australia’s largest pure-play coal producer, now has a dual primary listing on both the HKEx and the Australian Securities Exchange (“ASX”).
As part of its HK Listing, Yancoal also conducted a global offering and has issued 59,441,900 shares yesterday at an offer price of HK$23.48 per share (before the exercise of the over-allotment option). Yancoal will receive net proceeds of approximately HK$1.183 billion. Yancoal is also undertaking an Australian entitlement offer which is anticipated to complete at the end of this year. Morgan Stanley Asia Limited, CMB International Capital Limited and BOCI Asia Limited are the joint sponsors.
Offering Investors a Differentiated Investment Positioning
Yancoal listed on the ASX in 2012. With its dual-primary listing on the HKEx, the Company becomes the largest HKEx-listed exporter of high quality seaborne thermal coal.
Yancoal believes that it offers an attractive investment proposition relative to its HKEx-listed peers. Yancoal owns a portfolio of world-class coal assets in Australia (a comparatively low-risk jurisdiction) with supporting rail and port infrastructure. Yancoal’s export-oriented business model combined with its ability to produce high value quality coal allows the Company to secure favourable pricing and be better able to access the PRC market as the government restricts coal production and imports that do not meet their increasingly strict requirements on energy content and trace element levels. Yancoal also retains state-owned enterprise support, in particular through its major shareholder Yanzhou Coal Mining Company Limited, and access to attractive funding resources, and is well capitalised and is deleveraging further using strong operating cashflow.
Yancoal is committed to continuing its strategic growth and maximising new opportunities to build its business as a leading low-cost coal producer in the global seaborne market with a focus on creating long-term value for its shareholders. The management team remains focused on investing in the Australian resources sector, implementing operational efficiency, reducing costs, exploring new market opportunities and providing customers with the certainty of product quality and delivery.
Product Portfolio Optimisation to Grasp Opportunities in Coal Industry
Sectoral analysts expect the demand for coal will grow in Asian markets such as India, which will continue to rely on seaborne thermal coal and have significant shortfalls in supply. The seaborne thermal coal market has entered a period of transition with supply becoming more constrained when compared to demand. It is expected that Australia will continue to be an alternative and competitive coal source for this growing market, bringing Yancoal more opportunities for market development.
With a strong focus on exporting to key Asian markets, Yancoal intends to continue to develop its core thermal coal and coking coal market business. The Company’s operating scale and asset diversity enable it to provide suitable blended coal to meet the emerging needs of customers across Asia. The acquisition of Coal & Allied completed in September 2017 provided Yancoal with a broader range of coal grades, enabling it to achieve hybrid synergies on several contracts. Given the continued emergence of HELE power stations in major Asian markets, Yancoal is well placed to supply mixed coal to meet the high energy, low emission requirements and specifications of such power stations.
Yancoal’s Chairman Baocai Zhang comments: “Yancoal’s dual-primary listing on the HKEx and the ASX allows the Company to increase diversity of its investor base and increase share liquidity. The dual-listing will also enable Yancoal to obtain better access to a wider range of private and institutional investors, increase its exposure to the Hong Kong and PRC markets, enhance the Company’s profile in the Asia region and better position the Company for organic and inorganic growth in the future.”