Altech raises $17m

Altech Chemicals has raised $17 million to help fund the construction of a high-purity alumina (HPA) plant in Malaysia.

The Subiaco-based company said it had received commitments from a variety of institutional and professional investors for a $17 million share placement.

Sydney-based Petra Capital acted as the lead manager of the placement.

Under the placement, Altech Chemicals has issued the shares at 16.5 cents each, a 13.2 per cent discount on its price at the close of trade on Wednesday July 4.

The company said it expected to raise an additional $3 million via a share purchase plan.

Altech Chemicals managing director Iggy Tan said the capital would allow the company to maintain development momentum, with the first stage of construction expected to commence this quarter at an expected cost of $10 million.

"The funds that have been raised will allow Altech to commence HPA plant construction in parallel to finalising project financing," he said.

In February this year, Altech announced it had finalised terms for a $US190 million senior debt package with German government-owned KfW IPEX-Bank1 . 

In May, the company received a non-binding mezzanine debt term sheet from a global investment bank equal to $US90 million, and one month later said that it had executed an indicative non-binding term sheet for $US60 million.

Shares in Altech were down 7.9 per cent at 18 cents each at 2pm AEDT.