Poor market conditions derail Triple Flag IPO

Royalty and streaming company Triple Flag Precious Metals has cancelled a planned initial public offering (IPO) due to poor market conditions.

“While the company has been encouraged by investor interest in its proposed initial public offering,” Triple Flag stated, “the market environment for share offerings, particularly near year-end, continues to be challenging.”

The company had planned to issue 20 million common shares at an offer price of between $15 and $18 per share. At a mid-point price of $16.50 per share, the IPO would have raised $330 million — which would have made it the biggest mining IPO in Canada in more than two years.

“We didn’t invent the streaming and royalty business model, but we have embraced it for its record of superior performance relative to bullion and gold mining company equities.”
Shaun Usmar
Founder and CEO
Triple Flag Precious Metals

The proceeds would have been used to acquire royalty, stream and other interests, and to repay debt.

Triple Flag declined to comment on the cancelled IPO due to Ontario Securities Commission rules on public communications.

The company, which has royalties on Kirkland Lake Gold’s (TSX: KL; NYSE: KL) Fosterville mine in Australia and Alamos Gold’s (TSX: AGI; NYSE: AGI) Young-Davidson mine in Ontario, among others, was founded by Shaun Usmar, a former executive at Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) from 2014 to 2016, and is backed by hedge fund Elliot Management.

Usmar noted in the company’s Nov. 22 IPO prospectus that since the company was created in 2016, the management team had reviewed more than 400 opportunities and completed 15 transactions.

“Our thoroughness has paid off in building a portfolio of 37 assets, with geographic and asset diversification, as well as a mix of cash-generating and near-term production assets that we believe will continue cash flow growth in the coming years,” wrote Usmar. Of the 37 assets, eight are metal streams and 29 are royalties. The portfolio includes nine producing mines, five projects in construction, and 23 development and exploration-stage projects.

“We didn’t invent the streaming and royalty business model, but we have embraced it for its record of superior performance relative to bullion and gold mining company equities, whether prices are rising, declining, or stable, as evidenced by the equity performance of our peer companies,” the South Africa native outlined in a letter to prospective investors in the prospectus.

“The foundational concept of Triple Flag was born out of the idea that the streaming and royalty business model is a compelling way for investors to gain exposure to precious metals, and my belief that a gap in the competitive landscape existed,” he said. “There was room for a capable new entrant to distinguish itself through hard work and effective execution.”

Usmar has had a long career in the mining industry. Before Triple Flag and Barrick, he joined Xstrata in 2006 as an early senior executive member of the management team, which grew the company into one of the world’s largest diversified miners at the time of its acquisition by Glencore in 2013.