Magnis Energy Technologies’ plans to become a major global producer of extra-fast charging electric vehicle batteries have been given a major boost, after the company raised $34 million in a “heavily oversubscribed” share placement.
The ASX-listed company said on Monday that it had received firm commitments from institutional, professional and sophisticated investors via a placement of 121,428,572 ordinary shares at 28 cents each in a capital raising led by Evolution Capital Advisors.
The company says the funds will be put towards fast-tracking the commencement of production at its New York lithium-ion battery plant – with the number plate style acronym of iM3NY – which it says will be one of the largest of its kind in the United States.
“With the project development process having kicked off in recent months, activity will pick up with the injection of funds to start production later this year,” the ASX statement said.
“In conjunction with the placement, iM3NY has sourced a range of debt and equity opportunities to secure project financing for the NY Battery Plant, with execution of formal arrangements anticipated before the end of Q1 2021.”
As reported on the Driven, the Endicott factory, which is roughly 58% owned by Magnis in partnership with Charge CCCV (C4V), aims to manufacture C4V’s first generation lithium-ion batteries at a gigawatt-scale, starting 2022.
Even before production has started the technology has been loaded with plenty of promise, with Magnis revealing in July last year that C4V had successfully tested a lithium-ion cell with a six-minute charge time.
The batteries have also been touted as “potentially the greenest” in the north-eastern US market, based on the findings of a New York State government-backed report.
“We have been working hard to achieve this funding for our New York project and to become a significant global producer of lithium-ion batteries,” said Magnis chairman Frank Poullas on Monday.
“Strong investor appetite for clean energy technologies was evident through the overwhelming demand for this raise,” he added.
“Today’s announcement will allow us to fulfill our goal of bringing the iM3NY plant into production in 2021 and cementing our place is this exciting emerging industry.”
The New York facility is expected to be followed by another heavy acronym, the iM3TSV, an Australian 18GWh facility planned for Townsville in Queensland.
Mangis shares closed on Wednesday at 33 cents per share.
Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and deputy editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.