Freehills is acting for Brisbane-based company Aston Resources Limited (Aston Resources) on its initial public offering (IPO) and listing on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Aston Resources, which announced the successful completion of the bookbuild of its IPO on 6 August and whose shares commenced trading on ASX today, is a coal mining development company that owns the Maules Creek project in the Gunnedah Basin, New South Wales.
Under the IPO, Aston Resources will raise approximately $400 million and, following listing, its market capitalisation is expected to be approximately $1.2 billion. This represents the largest IPO by both amount raised and listed since the Myer IPO in 2009, which Freehills also acted on.
Freehills partner and co-head of the Equity Capital Markets team Philippa Stone said, ‘We are proud to have helped Aston Resources achieve such a milestone in its business. Freehills mobilised a dedicated team across several practice groups and states to assist Aston Resources successfully launch its IPO’.
Given the scale and complexity in the preparation of the IPO (which included the renegotiation of Aston Resources’ senior facilities), the Freehills team included lawyers from the corporate, equity capital markets, head office advisory, banking and environmental practice areas.
The Freehills team was led by Sydney-based corporate partners Philippa Stone and Tony Sparks and Brisbane-based corporate partner Matthew Fitzgerald, who were supported by senior associate Daniel Scotti and lawyers Kenneth Stanton and Ivan Yu. Acting on the banking aspects of the transaction was partner Hayley Neilson, who was supported by senior associate Samantha McDonough and lawyers Jessica Saya and Warren Brandt. The team at Freehills’ Brisbane office, who worked closely with Aston Resources, included executive counsel Mary Boittier and lawyers Tony Field and Matthew McKeown.
Freehills’ award-winning equity capital markets team has advised issuers or underwriters on all of Australia’s largest recent IPOs including acting for Miclyn Express Offshore and Myer and for the underwriters of Kathmandu. The team has also advised Boral, TSI Fund, Woodside, Santos, Elders, Prime Infrastructure, Lend Lease and FKP Property Group on their recent secondary raisings, and has acted for the underwriters on numerous capital raisings including those by Rio Tinto, CSR, Challenger Diversified Property Group, Australand Property Group and DEXUS Property Group.
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