International legal practice Norton Rose LLP has advised Liberum Capital Limited in its role as sole bookrunner, nominated adviser and financial adviser in connection with the placing and the admission to AIM of the entire ordinary share capital of Zanaga Iron Ore Company Limited. The company listed on 18 November 2010.
The placing raised gross proceeds of approximately US$100 million, the second largest capital raising on AIM this year, and the company had a market capitalisation of US$750 million upon admission, making it the largest company by market capitalisation to list on AIM this year.
Zanaga Iron Ore Company Limited is an iron ore exploration and development company with extensive operations in the Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville). The Zanaga iron ore project is one of the largest iron ore projects in Africa with expected capex to bring it into production of US$5.8 billion and a resource base of 3.34 billion tonnes.
London based corporate finance partner Raj Karia said:
“Our clients are going to have an increasing number of choices as to where to list and will want neutral advice about the advantages and disadvantages of each option. With the addition of Deneys Reitz and Ogilvy Renault to Norton Rose Group, we are going to be uniquely placed to provide that advice in all the prime listing locations, particularly the natural resource companies.”
The team was led by Raj Karia, with assistance from Emma Howes and Christopher McCarthy. Tom Vita, Kevin Connolly and Alexander Hirshfeld provided US advice.