Irish Billionaire to Back Mountain Province Diamonds’ Rights Offering

Bloomberg reported that Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. (NYSEMKT:MDM), which is working with De Beers on the Canada-based Gahcho Kue project, plans to raise $125 million in a rights offering that will be backed by the company’s largest shareholder, Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond.

As quoted in the market news:

The Toronto-based company’s biggest shareholder will ensure the offering in the first quarter is fully subscribed by buying rights not taken up by other investors, Chief Executive Officer Patrick Evans said in a telephone interview. Mountain Province, which needs the money for its 49 percent share of the cost of building the proposed diamond mine, raised C$47 million in an offering a year ago.

‘He backstopped that one and will backstop the next one as well,’ the 58-year-old Evans said, adding that Desmond has owned Mountain Province shares for 17 years. ‘I don’t know that he is as forthcoming and generous with all his businesses, but he certainly is with ours.’

Click here to read the full Bloomberg report.