AFR: Petra Capital teams up with US broker Jett Capital for deals

Australian stockbroker Petra Capital has signed a strategic partnership with US broker Jett Capital to capitalise on growing American investor interest in Australian resources companies.

Petra Capital managing director and owner George Marias said a rally in commodity prices, China’s ongoing growth and a weakening US dollar meant American investors were looking to invest in Australian miners and mining hopefuls.

He said some Australian companies had already been able to tap into that re-allocation of capital via capital raisings, and expects deal activity to heat up in the coming year.

“The view we have is that as China grows, Asia grows, Australia will benefit from providing commodities into Asian markets and also from the softening US dollar,” he said.

“The overgeared nature of the US economy means we’ll see the US dollar fall, Australian dollar rise and a lot of investors in the US look for investments outside of their own economy.”

To capitalise, Petra has teamed up with Jett Capital, an American capital markets and advisory firm specialising in the natural resources and clean technology sectors.

Marias said Jett Capital’s brokers had a strong track record in attracting US investors to Australian stocks, particularly in the last mining cycle. Its brokers include New York-based Sam Grauer and Joe Riggio, both of who previously worked at Casimir Capital.

The agreement comes after Petra and Jett helped raise $40 million for ASX-listed Core Lithium last week. (Jett, Bell Potter and Taylor Collison were named as joint lead managers, while Petra was a co-broker). The pair also raised $20 million for Big River Gold in December.

It comes as Marias is bullish about the stockmarket in the next few years.

“It’s going to be a strong market this year, and stronger next year. things are looking very good,” he said.

“Asia is going to keep growing, rates will stay low. There is so much stimulus out there and with China so determined to grow, equity markets will remain quite strong.”

Petra was founded in 2007, offers equities sales and research, and targets resources and industrials sector deals, Its recent raisings include offers for copper/gold hopeful Geopacific Resources, Big River and Core Lithium.

Source: The Australian Financial Review