Petra Diamonds said it completed new debt facilities of $244 million with several banks in South Africa.
The combined debt facility was with FirstRand Bank, Absa Corporate and Investment Banking and IFC.
“These transactions have now completed and the facilities are available for drawdown,” it said in a statement emailed to Rough&Polished.
The new financing replaced all of Petra's current bank debt and working capital facilities of $136 million.
Petra said last week that it intends to use the funds to expand its Finsch and Cullinan mines in South Africa, other operations and general working capital requirements.
”These facilities further strengthen our balance sheet and lend assurance to the company's ability to deliver on its core objective of rolling out its stated expansion plans and ramping up production to five million carats per annum by 2019,” Petra chief executive Johan Dippenaar said.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
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