Yamana Gold (YRI-T, AUY-N, YAU-L) has amplified its unsecured revolving credit facility from US$500 million to US$680 million thanks to a syndicate of international banks in a deal orchestrated by Scotia Capital and RBS Securities.
The gold producer has also closed a US$270 million senior debt securities offering in a transaction arranged by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and RBS Securities. The proceeds will repay the company’s existing term loan and reduce outstanding amounts under its revolving line of credit.
The debt offering consists of unsecured fixed coupon notes with a weighted average maturity of about nine years and a coupon of 6.75%. (The transactions do not change the company’s balance of drawn credit.)
The financing gives Yamana more than US$500 million in cash and immediate and undrawn credit available for general corporate purposes. (By contrast cash and equivalents at the end of October stood at US$130 million.)
And judging by third-quarter results released in early November, Yamana stands in pretty good financial shape.
Revenues for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 reached US$333.2 million, up 50% from the third quarter in 2008 million.
Net earnings stood at US$60.8 million or 8¢ per share. (Net earnings were impacted by a deferred tax provision impacting only the third quarter of 3¢ per share. Adjusted earnings for the three-month period were US$88.3 million, or 180% higher than they were in the third quarter of 2008.)
Other highlights from the third quarter included the completion of a 20-million-tonnes per year expansion at Yamana’s Chapada mine in Brazil. The new mine fleet there is forecast to start operating in the fourth quarter.
The company also completed the first full quarter of commercial production at Gualcamayo in Argentina after launching commercial production on July 1. Production increased 62% in the second quarter.
Cash and equivalents for the three-month period ended Sept. 30 were US$97.5 million, representing a 5% increase from the second quarter of 2009.
Total production for all of the company’s mines in the three-month period ended Sept. 30 reached 261,789 oz. gold and 2.9 million oz. silver, a 9% and 16% increase from the second quarter and first quarter of 2009, respectively. Total production for the first nine months of 2009 reached 736,369 oz. gold and 7.7 million oz.
At presstime in Toronto Yamana was trading at $11.95 per share. The company has traded in a 52-week range of $7.29-15.00 per share.
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