Ivanplats Ltd. is pricing its initial public offering Monday night to raise at least $300-million at $4.75 a share, according to people familiar with the deal.
The miner is a venture of entrepreneur Robert Friedland, and is set to be one of the biggest growth-company IPOs on the Toronto Stock Exchange this fall. The performance of the deal is likely to be an acid test for the health of the market for risky mining ventures.
Ivanplats has promising copper properties in Africa. It's the kind of deal that investors would have flocked to in the bull market for metals stocks, but now is facing a more cautious reception.
Still, at $4.75 a share, the valuation is above the bottom end of the range of $4.50 to $5.40 that the company was seeking. The offering could go as high as $350-million if bankers exercise their option to sell more stock to investors.
The stock is expected to begin trading shortly on a when-issued basis.