Fortescue Metals Group
9 October 2014Fortescue Metals Group had ambitious plans to develop its iron ore holdings in remote Western Australia.
“Using Intralinks certainly got our name into the market much more quickly and broadly than would otherwise have been possible. As a young company going against large, established competitors, we found this vital to the success of our fundraising goals.”
— Chris Catlow, CFO, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd.
The project’s infrastructure requirements mandated significant investment. Intralinks® allowed Fortescue to conveniently connect with international capital markets and raise an unprecedented AU$3.7 billion corporate bond offering.
The Situation
n 2004, Fortescue Metals Group discovered the largest bedrock iron ore deposit in Australia — 2.4 billion tons. The company lined up long-term sales of 45 million tons annually, with additional agreements for tonnage beyond this target. To develop these reserves, Fortescue needed to build mining and processing facilities and a 260-kilometer heavy rail line to bring the ore to the port. This AU$1.92 billion infrastructure required significant financing.
The Problem
The company makes its headquarters in Perth, often called the most isolated city in the world. Potential investors would be put off by the expense of sending a due diligence team across the globe to review documents in a physical dataroom simply to determine their level of interest.
The Implications
Fortescue’s owner knew success lay in mining international capital markets. He understood the critical importance of enabling Fortescue to get information into potential investors’ hands quickly, regardless of their location, without compromising security.
The Solution
On the advice of its investment banking team, Fortescue investigated Intralinks. The secure, web-based platform for document exchange provided by Intralinks was the perfect solution. In just one weekend, the company posted thousands of documents for potential investors to review such as financial records, engineering and survey reports, detailed maps, geologic information, operational documents, and corporate marketing data.
