Yancoal prepays US$1b of debt, Janus Henderson chair retires and Telstra suffers ‘data breach’

Australian coal miner Yancoal (ASX: YAL) has announced plans to prepay US$1 billion of debt, which is expected to provide a US$207 million reduction in finance costs over the loan period.

Yancoal will fund the prepayment with available cash on 4 October. Funds will go towards the company’s syndicated facility and its unsecured related-party loans.

Chief executive officer David Moult outlined the details of the prepayment in the company’s latest announcement.

“Combined with debt prepayments in October 2021 and July 2022, the planned US$1 billion debt prepayment results in Yancoal prepaying over US$2.3 billion of debt in the last 12 months,” he said.

After the prepayments have been made, Yancoal will have US$792 million of total debt remaining, with it mostly made up of US$301 million, which is due in the second half of 2024, and US$307 million due in the second half of 2026.

Mr Moult said the prepayment will put the company in a better position moving forward.

“Yancoal’s decision to undertake another debt prepayment was made possible by the robust coal prices and the company’s focus on optimising its capital structure to deliver sustainable future value to shareholders,” he said.

West African Resources

West African Resources (ASX: WAF) reported its staff and contractors are all safe after news broke that another change has occurred within military leadership in Burkina Faso.

The political situation in the West African country has created an uneasy environment for companies like West African Resources, but the new Burkina Faso military leadership has urged people to “go about their business in peace”.

As a result, West African Resources reported its Sanbrado gold mine in Burkina Faso is and will continue to operate as normal.

Burkina Faso’s military president was replaced on Sunday after disagreements in the military leadership, having only held the position since January.

West African Resources says it remains on track to meet its 2022 production target, despite the political uncertainty.

The company will release its September quarter production and cost report within the coming weeks.

Janus Henderson Group

Leading global asset manager Janus Henderson Group’s (ASX: JHG) chairperson Richard Gillingwater has stepped down from the board, along with several other directors.

Janus Henderson chief executive officer Ali Dibadj said Mr Gillingwater’s contributions made the asset manager what it is today.

“Over nine years, Richard has been a greatly dedicated and highly respected member of our board,” he said.

“We have all benefitted from his insightful counsel, substantial expertise, and unwavering commitment to the success of Janus Henderson.”

“Richard’s strong leadership led to the creation of Janus Henderson, a leading global platform well-positioned for its next phase of growth and innovation.”

As well as Mr Gillingwater’s resignation, Janus Henderson also announced the retirement of non-executive directors Lawrence Kochard and Jeffrey Diermeier.

“I also extend my gratitude to Larry and Jeff, whose dedication and business acumen have deeply impacted the firm’s strategic direction over the years,” Mr Dibadj added.

Under the board reshuffle, Janus Henderson has appointed Alison Quirk, Anne Sheehan, and John Cassaday as new independent non-executive directors.

Janus Henderson has around US$300 billion in assets under management, and more than 2,000 employees, with offices in 23 cities worldwide.

Telstra

Just two weeks after Optus was hindered by a serious data breach, another telecommunication giant in Telstra (ASX: TLS) has also suffered what the company described as a “small data breach”.

With more than 18.8 million customer accounts, equivalent to three-quarters of Australia’s population, Telstra said some of its employees’ data was exposed, dating back to 2017.

According to reports, a Telstra internal staff email said the number of affected current and former employees was 30,000.

While Telstra itself did not confirm the exact number, it has stated only current and former staff were impacted by the breach.

A Telstra spokesperson said the data taken was supposedly “very basic in nature”, consisting of just names and email addresses.

“We believe it’s been made available now in an attempt to profit from the Optus breach,” it said.

Core Lithium

Following on from last week’s news, Core Lithium (ASX: CXO) has completed its $100 million share placement to fund work at its Finniss lithium project in Australia’s Northern Territory.

The capital raised will go towards further exploration drilling, advancing development of the proposed BP33 underground mine, bringing in a night shift, and also project management and corporate development activities.

As part of the placement, Core will issue 97.1 million new shares at $1.03, which is a 13% discount to its five day volume weighted average price (VWAP).

The company said the capital raise comes at a time of significant investor interest in Core’s operations, and the share placement will help fast-track the growth strategy for the Finniss project.

Also, Core confirmed it officially completed the first sale of spodumene direct shipping ore (DSO) product from Finniss.

The company announced it sold 15,000 dry metric tonnes (dmt) of spodumene DSO, with an average grade of 1.4% lithium oxide, for US$951 (A$1,480) per dmt.

Core chief executive officer Gareth Manderson said the sale was a massive milestone for the company.

“The completion of the spodumene DSO tender is an excellent result for Core and indicates the strong demand for lithium,” he said.