The Baralaba mine owner completed the bookbuild for a $A153 million equity raising to its key shareholders and institutional investors through the issue of more than 1.3 billion shares at 4.5c each.

Completion is subject to a shareholder meeting expected in mid-December with funds from the raising and a flagged share purchase plan to retail investors to be used to pay down existing debt and expand the Baralaba mine and the company.

Cockatoo’s takeover play for Blackwood is based on issuing two new ordinary shares for each share of the coal explorer.

Blackwood‘s independent directors were encouraged by Cockatoo’s bookbuild and are recommending its shareholders to accept the offer.

Blackwood has long held an exploration target of 5-6.9 billion tonnes of coal resources across its projects in Queensland’s established Bowen, Surat, Clarence-Moreton and unexploited Galilee basins.

However, in September it made progress in establishing resources with maiden inferred resources of 322 million tonnes set at its South Pentland project in the Galilee Basin and 51.8Mt set at the Taroom project in the Surat Basin.

Blackwood also struck shallow coal of pulverised coal injection-metallurgical quality through a scout drilling program at its Dingo project in the Bowen Basin last month.

The project is west of Cockatoo’s Dingo project and located 30km northwest of the Baralaba mine.

Former coal tycoon Nathan Tinkler was once interested in capturing a stake of Blackwood but the $28.4 million share placement struck by his company Mulsanne Resources fell through earlier this year with Tinkler paying Blackwood $12 million as part of a legal settlement in late June.

Cockatoo shares were down by 11.9% or 0.7c to 5.2c by 3pm AEDT yesterday while Blackwood shares were up 3.3% to 9.3c.