Molycorp Prices Follow-On Offering

On Friday, rare-earths miner Molycorp (NYSE: MCP  ) announced a new follow-on offering of stock and convertible notes -- i.e., debt.

The company is floating 37.5 million shares of common stock and made available a further 5.625 million for purchase by its underwriters through an overallotment option, at $6 per share. Thus, the stock offering alone could potentially yield gross proceeds, before fees, of $258.8 million.

In addition, Molycorp is selling $150 million worth of convertible senior notes, paying 5.5% interest semiannually and due Feb. 1, 2018. The notes are said to be convertible into stock at a strike price of $7.20 per share. Alternatively, the company may elect to pay cash to redeem the notes. Molycorp may call the notes at any time after Feb. 1, 2016, provided its shares have traded for at least 130% of the conversion price for 20 trading days out of the 30-trading day period preceding the call.

Here, too, an overallotment option is available, increasing the potential debt raise to $172.5 million. Both the equity and the debt offerings are scheduled to close on Jan. 30. If successful, the total haul could exceed $430 million for the cash-strapped company. Molycorp says it intends to use the cash "to fund current capital needs for capital expenditures and other cash requirements for 2013."

Molycorp shares reacted positively to the news, rising 13.4% to $8.02.

Profit-Taking Weighs on Nikkei

Asian markets were mostly higher on Monday, with Hong Kong marking a 21-month high and Japan's Nikkei climbing above 11,000 points for the first time since April 2010.

In the currency market, South Korea's won was the sharpest mover, falling against the U.S. dollar as foreign investors sold South Korean stocks, while North Korea's latest threat to take "high-profile measures" suggested that South Korea's northern neighbor is considering a third nuclear test.

"The market is getting a little twitchy about the geopolitical risk (in Korea)," said Paul Mackel, head of Asian currency research at HSBC in Hong Kong.

More in Markets

• Japan PM Advisor: Yen Has Room to Weaken
• Fed Seems Set to Keep the Money Spigot Open
• Surging Stocks Leave Bears on Their Heels

The U.S. dollar was recently at 1,081.68, compared with 1,074.50 late Friday.

The move in the dollar against the yen "continues to unfold as a powerful force, though we think that much of the policy change should already be in the price at these levels," said HSBC's Mr. Mackel.

The U.S. dollar was a touch higher against the yen on Monday, at �91.03 compared with �90.87 late Friday in New York. A weakening yen has been a key contributor to the recent rally in Japanese stocks, and despite some renewed strength in the currency early last week�brought about by dollar selling after the Bank of Japan concluded its policy meeting�the greenback still managed to post a 0.9% gain last week.

The dollar's 0.6% gain against the yen on Friday gave Japanese stocks a healthy start to the session, with the Nikkei breaching the 11,000 mark in early trading, before profit-taking sent the index into negative territory. The Nikkei fell 0.6% to 10,863.84.

The Japanese market was gearing itself for the core of its earnings season, with a string of local corporations scheduled to report this week. On Wednesday, Canon Corp. and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group will announce their results. They will be followed by Softbank Corp., Toshiba Corp. and Nomura Holdings among others on Thursday.

On Monday, there were a number of large movements in Tokyo in response to earnings news. Industrial robotics manufacturer Fanuc Corp. dropped 5.2% after revising down its full-year outlook; Advantest lost 4.2% after a Nikkei report over the weekend said that there could be a possible decline in full year earnings, and Hitachi High-Technologies sank 10.6% after its third quarter results suggest that it will likely miss expectations for the fiscal year.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.5% at 23688.65, after touching a 21-month high of 23713.40 earlier in the session.

In mainland China, The Shanghai Composite was 1.6% higher, with banks and cement companies performing well.

South Korea's Kospi fell 0.3%, with heavy foreign selling putting a number of large local stocks under pressure: Samsung Electronics dropped 2.6% and Hyundai Motor lost 1.5%.

Markets in Australia were closed for a public holiday.

Write to Daniel Inman at daniel.inman@wsj.com