UPDATE 1: ACG Metals Eyes New Bond Issuances to Fund Future M&A

Thu Jul 24, 2025 08:42 AM ET: ACG Metals has clarified after its July 22 call that it could look to bond issuances to finance future acquisitions, but is not planning to tap its existing bond to fund M&A activities, in a statement emailed to Octus. The proceeds from the existing bond will primarily be used to fund the expansion project at the Gediktepe Mine.

ACG Metals Plans to Finance Future Mining Acquisitions With Bond Tap; $200M 2029 14.75% Note Hits 107

Relevant Document:
Operations Update

London-listed miner ACG Metals could fund further acquisitions in the copper mining sector by tapping its newly issued $200 million 2029 bond, CEO and Chairman Artem Volynets told investors during an update call today.

The company, which currently operates one mine in Turkey, the Gediktepe, has identified some 35 potential acquisition targets globally and is actively pursuing around 10 of those, Volynets said. Management is looking at targets in the copper belt that spans Turkey, Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Central Asia, he added, as well as further afield in Africa and North and South America.

ACG Metals’ 14.75% 2029 bonds are quoted at all-time highs of 107.25/107.75, for an indicative yield of 11.8%, according to Solve. The bonds are up more than 4 points since they listed on the Nordic ABM in June 2025. The instrument was privately placed at par on Dec. 19, 2024, as reported.

The current yield to maturity on the 2029 bond offers an indication of where the company’s next issuance could price, Volynets told Octus in an interview ahead of today’s update call. ACG Metals is still considering a potential early refinancing of the 2029 bond with a new bond at a lower yield, he added. The speed of execution and strong demand in the markets makes bond financing an attractive proposition for ACG Metals, Volynets said.

“Now that we have access to the bond market and our bonds are trading at a significant premium to the issue price, we can tap [the bond markets] again for the next acquisition,” Volynets noted during today’s call.

Volynets, a former Rusal deputy chief executive, said that ACG is focusing on producing or near-producing assets to allow it to scale before an expected jump in copper prices in 2027 or 2028, when he said global copper deficits are projected to appear. He added that it is easier to get debt financing for producing assets compared with greenfield, or buy-and-build, projects.

ACG Metals has to date drawn down $108 million of the $200 million proceeds from the bond issuance. The company used the drawdown to repay a debt facility advanced by sponsors Traxys Europe and Argentem Creek that was set to mature in October 2025. Following the repayment, the senior secured bonds represent the only debt in ACG Metals’ capital structure.
 

The company made the first scheduled coupon payment on the bond on July 13. ACG Metals said that its net debt as of July 13 was $66 million and cash balance was at $133 million.

ACG Metals has upped its 2025 production guidance to between 36,000 and 38,000 ounces of gold equivalent, from the previously forecast 30,000 to 33,000 ounces, as reported. The amount of the increase is worth between $16 million and $17 million at spot prices, Volynets said on the call.

ACG Metals is in the process of converting the Gediktepe mine from producing gold and silver to primarily copper and zinc concentrate, with gold and silver as a by-product. Commissioning for the sulphide expansion project is on track to begin in the first quarter of 2026, management said.

“Before the M&A focus, comes the focus on operational excellence, and we hope that Gediktepe shows what we can do with these assets,” Volynets told Octus last week.

The company’s London-listed shares are currently trading at 680 pence per share, for a market capitalization of £147.4 million. Volynets argued that there is a 3x to 5x upside on the shares at their current price in the company’s base case, excluding any future acquisitions. He noted that the shares trade at 2x below current free cash flow.