Tsihlis back with ‘green steel’ deal; IM sent to potential backers
Another day, another deal from entrepreneur Kirk Tsihlis.
TrueGreen founder Kirk Tsihlis. Â
Street Talk understands Tsihlis has been trying to raise funding for a new venture, which is aiming to produce low-carbon steel and cement. It follows Tsihlis’ EV bus outfit GoZero Group finalising an $80 million facility from the Commonwealth Bank, and another of his investments, Metsquare, facing scrutiny over its dealings with the tax office.
Dubbed Axis Green Steel Limited (née TrueGreen Steel), the business is pitched as a vertically integrated green steel and strategic minerals group. An information memorandum sent to potential investors, and seen by this column, said Axis would need about $70 million for the first stage of its production facility and $700 million-odd in the second stage.
When contacted by Street Talk, Tsihlis said Axis has already secured funding internally and doesn’t have a raise under way. However, he declined to comment on how much had been raised and when. Sources told this column Axis had been approaching potential investors as recently as last month – to no avail.
According to the IM, Axis owns 100 per cent of the Mt Moss magnetite mine located 162 kilometres from Townsville. The mine has a 15.3 million tonne JORC resources and is fully operational, potential investors were told.
Pigs might fly
Axis now wants to build a facility to convert Mt Moss’s ore into green pig iron. It is proposing to build a production facility that would use “biochar reduction in rotary hearth furnace with a pig iron production in submerged arc furnace�. The result would be Australian-first ingots of low-emissions pig iron, per the pitch. Future ambitions include a green cement plant, which could share mining infrastructure with the Mt Moss mine.
Existing operations were restarted in 2022 and are listed with an $80 million replacement value.
It comes after GoZero, another venture where Tsihlis is involved, secured an $80 million asset finance facility from CBA. The proceeds would help the group replace diesel buses with electric ones for Sydney schools including Knox Grammar, Scots College and Queenwood. In the background, GoZero has had MA Moelis running a capital partner search. BurnVoir Corporate Finance is acting as corporate adviser.
On February 28, The Australian Financial Review reported construction contractor Metsquare, backed by eco-tech investor TrueGreen and its founder Kirk Tsihlis, paid the ATO just 8.9¢ in the dollar in a deal waived through by administrators despite opposition from the tax office.
A new firm, M2 Sustainable Services, which traded as Metsquare 2 and whose sole director was Tsihlis, then continued the company’s work at Mirvac’s Green Square project and Lendlease’s state government project, Victoria Cross Station.
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