Apollo Calls to Abandon Ship on Noranda

Photo of Chris Lange
By Chris Lange Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Secondary offerings are often meant for companies to raise more capital, but in the case of Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp. (NYSE: NOR), it appears that this is a call by Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE: APO) to abandon ship. Not only are the Apollo affiliates (selling stockholders) dumping the stock, but it seems that some might even vacate Noranda’s board.

Tuesday morning, Noranda announced the pricing of its previously announced secondary offering. The offering will consist of 22,840,000 shares of common stock held by funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management.

The sole underwriter for the offering is Morgan Stanley, and the offering is expected to close on or about May 15.

Note that the company will not sell any shares in the offering and will not receive any proceeds. Prior to this offering, the selling stockholders controlled a stake of roughly 33% of the outstanding shares.

Following the completion of this offering, the selling stockholders will no longer own any shares of the common stock. At the same time, it is expected that Matthew Michelini, Matthew Nord, Eric Press and Robert Kalsow-Ramos, who are affiliates of the selling stockholders, will resign from Noranda’s board of directors.

Some background on Noranda: The company is a North American integrated producer of value-added primary aluminum products, as well as high-quality rolled aluminum coils. The company has a market cap of around $154 million.

In early May, Noranda’s board of directors announced a quarterly recurring dividend of $0.01, which will be paid next on June 10.

Shares are down about 14.5% year to date, as of Monday’s closing price. Over the past few years, the stock has been on the decline, and it does not seem surprising that investors would want to abandon ship. As far back as 2011, the Noranda was a $15 stock. Shares dropped below $6 in 2013, and the stock has not seen that level since then.

Shares of Noranda were down 26,7% at $2.20 late Tuesday morning, after hitting a multiyear low earlier at $2.14. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $3.81 and a 52-week trading range of $2.14 to $5.64.

ALSO READ: Are Short Sellers Getting Scared of the Top Warren Buffett Stocks?

Photo of Chris Lange
About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618