IPO of an emerging independent junior gold explorer

The challenge:

The IPO faced a number of specific challenges, including the need to overcome perceptions of sovereign risk, as well as the negative connotations associated with a private equity sell-down. Additionally, against a backdrop of a weakening gold price, carefully crafted messaging was essential to ensure the success of the IPO.

fowlstone’s approach:

A key part of our role was to anticipate and neutralise issues associated with the development of the project in a highly volatile location. We devised a proactive strategy that sought to pre-emptively deal with the key issues.
An education campaign to build awareness of the strong landowner support for the project, as well as the project’s remoteness from others that had been impacted by sovereign risk issues, was a critical part of our strategy.
Additionally, fowlstone profiled the founder and CEO of the business to leverage his extensive industry background and familiarity with the project.
We used the third-party credibility of one of the company’s foundational shareholders to build the company’s reputation.

The results:

By utilising the reputation of the founder and CEO to provide a degree of comfort to potential investors, and by isolating the project from others in the region, we effectively positioned the investment proposition to support a successful IPO.