BIFOX's path to IPO with CEO Tim Koster

BIFOX’s path to IPO with CEO Tim Koster

Manny Anton: Hi. I'm Manny Anton from the Finance News Network, and today I'm talking to Tim Koster, the CEO of pre-IPO company, BIFOX. Tim, welcome to the Network.

Tim Koster: Hi, Manny. Thank you very much for having me.

Manny Anton: Well, let's get started with you giving us a quick rundown on what BIFOX is doing and what the plans are.

Tim Koster: So, BIFOX is based just north of Santiago and Chile in the Atacama Desert. It's a fully integrated mining operation with about 300 million tons of phosphate. And we process that phosphate and turn it into products which become fertilizer, and we sell that into the Chilean market. And we're now expanding that market base into Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, with high-grade phosphates. That's basically it. It's integrated mining and production and phosphate marketing.

Manny Anton: All right. And what's the strategy in terms of growth going forward?

Tim Koster: It's to basically take the underlying commodity of phosphate and add value. So in our sense, we have two drives, two divisions. One of them is fertilizer. And the fertilizer division is focused on value-adding products that are not just rock phosphate, but turn into specialist products for either broadacre farming or for viticulture, fruit and veg production and other agribusiness needs. And then on top of that we have igneous phosphate, which is designed to value-add to, and then we turn that into phosphoric acid. Ostensibly, phosphoric acid then becomes a supply chain to the LFP batteries, or if you like, EV battery production supply chain opportunity.

Manny Anton: Great. Okay. And can you give us a sense for what the size of the phosphate market is, particularly in Chile and LATAM, for example? What are the numbers we're talking about?

Tim Koster: So, in Chile, it's about 600,000 tons a year would be the market for both blended and other value-added fertilizer products. But in Brazil, it's about 9 million tons a year. So if we were to produce 2 million tons a year, Brazil would take every bit of product we have. So it's an incredible voracious market and it's growing, both in Argentina and Brazil, because they are the food basin to South America.

Manny Anton: Okay. And just coming back to some of the numbers, perhaps the panel end of the balance sheet. Is BIFOX profitable now? And if not, when do you anticipate operational profitability?

Tim Koster: Yeah, we do. We're 2,000 tons a month production now, and we aim to anticipate 5,000 tons this quarter. And later this quarter in the next, we're going to be aiming at 10,000 tons a month. At 5,000 tons a month, we'll break even and we'll be profitable. So we're about to hit that within the next quarter.

Manny Anton: Okay, great. And you recently announced a capital raising. Of course, you are pre-IPO, so currently the company's not listed. But it is a public company. Can you talk us through some of the parameters of the capital raising size and what the funds will be used for?

Tim Koster: Yes. So, we're raising 5 million. It's a small placement prior to doing a larger institutional raise, which we want to do over the next two quarters, the larger raise. And this raises at 25 cents Australian, and it'll be raising 5 million to ostensibly pay for two of the assets that we have that have just got to have final installment payments made. And on top of that, some working capital to get us to 10,000 tons a month production. So it's a nice little package. It enables us to be owning all the assets, we're debt-free, and we're traveling at 10,000 tons a month. We do that for a couple of quarters and then we're traveling towards the IPO, which we expect to happen in Q3.

Manny Anton: Right. So that's what I was going to ask you next, was, so you're obviously planning to IPO. And I was going to ask you, give us a sense of the timing around that. And you're saying that is likely to happen prior to the end of 2024.

Tim Koster: Yeah, absolutely.

Manny Anton: Calendar 2024?

Tim Koster: Yes, most definitely. It'll happen before the end. Yep.

Manny Anton: All right. Well, Tim, I think, thank you for your time today and we look forward to getting you back a little bit further down to the track and hearing about the progress, and perhaps as we get closer to the IPO.

Tim Koster: Fantastic. Thanks, Manny. And thank you very much, and look forward to seeing you again.