Ghost Stories Ep6: Say Hello to Helium (with Stefano Marani, CEO of Renergen)

In the latest episode of Ghost Stories, Renergen CEO Stefano Marani took a break from a busy capital raising schedule to have an in-depth conversation with The Finance Ghost. After the first half of the show focused on the background to the project and the importance of helium to the global economy, the second half looked at the capital raising strategy.

Topics covered in the show include:

• Stefano’s background in investment banking in the pre-GFC days, with the events of 2008/2009 leading to a career shift and the eventual investment in what would become Renergen.
• The future-proof nature of helium, including several examples of industrial and technological applications for which there is no known substitute.
• The importance of government support over the lifetime of this project.
• South Africa’s geographical and geopolitical positioning, both of which are helpful to Renergen.
• The logistical challenges around transportation of liquid helium.
• Renergen’s plan to self-power its operations, making it grid agnostic in a country that we know doesn’t have enough electricity.
• The Cryo-Vacc and the helium tokens – what happened to these headline grabbers?
• The group structure and the way this drives the capital raising strategy with asset-specific funding partners.
• An overview of Phase 1 vs. Phase 2 of the project.
• The use of accelerated bookbuilds and why they are a necessity in South Africa vs. rights offers.
• The capital raising strategy going forward, including the pursuit of a full listing on a US exchange rather than an OTC listing.
• The likelihood of achieving meaningful liquidity in the US vs. what a company like Karooooo has experienced on the Nasdaq.
• And on a fun note – the positive social impact of Renergen’s sponsorship of local rally racing.

This podcast is brought to you by Renergen. Visit the corporate website for more information on the group.