Coeur goes to market for US$107 million

Idaho-based Coeur d’Alene Mines (CDE-N) has arranged to issue 25 million shares in a public offering to raise US$106.9 million.

The offering is priced at US$4.50 per share and CIBC World Markets and J.P. Morgan are the joint principals in the offering. The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase another 2.5 million shares at $4.50.

Coeur plans to use the procees for exploration and development at the Cerro Bayo mine in Chile and the Martha mine in Argentina, and for an expansion program at its Silver Valley mine in Idaho. At the Kensington project in Alaska, Coeur will use some of the funds on definition drilling.

Coeur had US$218.3 million in cash and short-term instruments at the end of September. It had short-term liabilities of US431 million.

The company reported a loss of $17.7 million, including $14.9 million in merger expenses, for the quarter ended Sept. 30. Revenues in the same period were US$30.2 million. It is showing a US$25.7 million loss (US12 per share) for the first nine months of 2004, on revenues of US$86.2 million.

In 2003, Coeur posted a third-quarter loss of US$17.5 million on US$23.6 million in revenue, and a nine-month loss of US$53.7 million on revenue of US$78.2 million. The nine-month loss included a US$34 million item for early retirement of debt.

The share issue would bring Coeur’s capitalization to about 238 million shares, issued and outstanding.