Shares of the Toronto-based company fell to $16.90 at 9:30 a.m. start of trading Thursday on an “if, as and when issued basis,” slightly below its IPO price. The stock was down 1.8 per cent as of 9:45 a.m.
Lithium Royalty sold 8.82 million shares for $17 apiece in its IPO, within its targeted range of $16 to $19. That makes it the biggest IPO on a Canadian exchange since last May, when Bausch + Lomb Corp. was spun off in a dual listing and Dream Residential Real Estate Investment Trust went public. The sale, which confirms an earlier report by Bloomberg, brings another lithium-based company to the Toronto Stock Exchange when the appetite for battery metals is soaring on strong prospects for electric vehicles. The company, which was founded by Waratah Capital Advisors Ltd. in 2018, trades under the stock symbol LIRC.
The company has a diversified portfolio of royalties for lithium projects around the world, including in Canada, Australia and the US. Among them is the flagship project of Australian miner Core Lithium Ltd., which counts Tesla Inc. as a future customer, and the Brazilian mine of Sigma Lithium Corp. The sale was led by by Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. The investment banks that arranged the deal have an option for an additional 1.3 million shares after the close.
Y’all see the commodities prices right