Swick advances Orexplore demerger, listing

Swick Mining Services is on track to demerge and list its Orexplore Technologies business, with a shareholder meeting scheduled for next month and documents submitted to ASIC.

Orexplore is seeking to raise between $1 million and $2.5 million through an initial public offering to Swick’s shareholders, having lodged a prospectus with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

The offer is priced at 25 cents a share, representing as much as a 57 per cent discount to a valuation of Orexplore undertaken by Deloitte Corporate Finance.

That assessment valued Orexplore at a maximum $55 million.

The offer opens to Swick shareholders on December 1 and is scheduled to close on December 22 – the same day shareholders will vote on the demerger.

If approved, Swick's shareholders will receive one Orexplore share for every share held in the Guildford-based contractor.

Plans for the demerger were announced in mid-2020, about three years after Swick moved to full ownership of Orexplore, having first bought into the Swedish tech business in 2013.

Orexplore is now based in Bassendean and led by managing director Brett Giroud, appointed to the role in October last year.

The company's board also includes Swick founder and boss Kent Swick, who will serve as a non-executive director of Orexplore alongside Stuart Carmichael and Stefan Sädbom.

Alan Bye is non-executive chairman of the company.

Orexplore's products include 3D imaging technology, called GeoCore X10, and visualisation and analysis software, called Orexplore Insight.

Mr Bye said the tech could add significant value to mining exploration and operations.

"By leveraging medical imaging technology, Orexplore can enable customers to rapidly create a 3D digital image of their core comprising resource characterisation data at 200 microns resolution," he said in the company's prospectus.

"A consistent approach to logging, enabling remote access to global experts and data analytics can increase the efficiency and productivity of exploration, resource evaluation, reserve extension, mining and processing.

"Orexplore has expert in-house capabilities spanning fundamental physics and software engineering, through advanced manufacturing and data science, that support our project delivery and consulting geology teams."

The proceeds from the IPO, Mr Bye said, would be used to fund business development and marketing, product development, site and operational costs, and working capital and corporate expenses.

Orexplore is scheduled to start trading on January 21.

Post listing, the company expects it will have as much as $14.6 million in funds available to the business, including a $12 million investment from Swick and $87,000 in existing cash.

Separately, local drilling contractor DDH1 will acquire Swick for 35 cents a share after the Orexplore demerger is completed.

The DDH1 takeover was announced in October, with Swick to have a 19.7 per cent stake in the merged group.

Swick's shares closed up 7 per cent this afternoon to trade at 38 cents.