EMH & CEZ - Cinovec Partnership & Investment

RNS Number : 0513U

Cadence Minerals PLC

20 November 2019

 

Cadence Minerals Plc

("Cadence Minerals" or "Cadence")

European Metals (AIM: EMH) - Potential Strategic Partnership with CEZ and Significant Investment into Cinovec Project.

Cadence Minerals (AIM/NEX: KDNC; OTC: KDNCY) is pleased to note the update today from European Metals Holdings Limited ("European Metals" "EMH" or "the Company") that it has today reached conditional agreement with CEZ Group ("CEZ"), one of Central and Eastern Europe's largest power utilities, regarding a potential strategic partnership and significant investment into the Cinovec Project ("Cinovec" or "the Project").

If concluded, the agreement will see, subject to the successful completion of due diligence, shareholder, and other approvals, CEZ become a 51% shareholder in Geomet s.r.o. ("Geomet"), the Company's Czech subsidiary and holder of the rights over the Project, for consideration of approximately EUR 34.06 million (approximately AUD 55.25 million) by subscribing for new shares in Geomet (the "Proposed Subscription").

Cadence Minerals Holding in EMH

Cadence holds approximately 19.1 percent of the equity in European Metals, which, through its wholly owned Subsidiary, Geomet s.r.o. ("Geomet"), controls the mineral exploration licenses awarded by the Czech State over Cinovec.

Background to the Proposed CEZ Subscription

In July this year, European Metals announced that CEZ was conducting due diligence on the Company and the Cinovec Project, and that the successful outcome of the due diligence process could result in CEZ potentially becoming the Company's largest shareholder and co-development partner for the Cinovec Project. Since then, European Metals and CEZ have held detailed discussions on the framework for CEZ's participation in the Cinovec Project and today European Metals and CEZ entered into the Exclusivity and Framework Agreement.

European Metals considers that CEZ Group is an ideal strategic and financial partner for the Cinovec Project. In addition to CEZ's financial strength, the Board believes that CEZ provides strong strategic relationships within the Czech Republic, the European Union and abroad. CEZ is a leader in power generation and distribution in the region and has plans to become heavily involved in the development of new energy systems. Through these battery industry activities, CEZ is expected to assist greatly in the securing of off take agreements for the Project

Headquartered in the Czech Republic, CEZ is an established, integrated energy group with operations in a number of Central and Southeastern European countries and Turkey. CEZ's core business is the generation, distribution, trade in, and sales of electricity and heat, trade in and sales of natural gas, and coal extraction. CEZ Group has 33,000 employees and annual revenue of approximately EUR 7.24 billion.

The largest shareholder of its parent company, CEZ a. s., is the Czech Republic with a stake of approximately 70%. The shares of CEZ a.s. are traded on the Prague and Warsaw stock exchanges and included in the PX and WIG-CEE exchange indices. CEZ's market capitalization is approximately EUR 10.08 billion.

As one of the leading Central European power companies, CEZ intends to develop several projects in areas of energy storage and battery manufacturing in the Czech Republic and in Central Europe.

CEZ is also a market leader for E-mobility in the region and has installed and operates a network of EV charging stations throughout Czech Republic. The automotive industry in Czech is a significant contributor to GDP and the number of EV's in the country is expected to grow significantly in coming years.

AIM Rule 15

The Proposed Subscription would constitute a fundamental change of business for European Metals under Rule 15 of the AIM Rules. The Proposed Subscription is therefore conditional on, inter alia, Shareholder approval which will be sought at a General Meeting of the Company to be convened in due course. European Metals will, however, remain an operating minerals company under the AIM Rules given its remaining material interest and ongoing involvement in the Cinovec Project after the Proposed Subscription has completed, as described above.

The completion of the Proposed Subscription will not result in any changes to the European Metals' board or management.

Further information

European Metals expects to publish shortly a circular to shareholders setting out further details of the Proposed Subscription, the Exclusivity and Framework Agreement and Geomet Shareholders' Agreement, together with notice of the General Meeting and a further announcement will be made in due course.

The full release, including the Exclusivity and Framework Agreement can be found at: https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/EMH/14314905.html

European Metals Managing Director Keith Coughlan said; "We are very pleased to have concluded another stage of negotiations with CEZ regarding the future development of the Cinovec Project. CEZ is one of the largest companies in the Czech Republic and one of the leading companies in Central and Eastern Europe, having a strong vision with regards to the construction of battery production facilities, renewable energy and power storage.

If concluded, this agreement will result in Cinovec being fully funded through to a construction decision and will assist greatly in the integration of Cinovec into the European battery market. The potential investment by CEZ further demonstrates EMH's commitment to develop fully the Cinovec Project in conjunction with Czech industry, for the benefit of the country's involvement in the battery and EV industries. With their blend of technical foresight, historic mining experience, strong balance sheet and involvement in the rapidly growing European Battery Industry, CEZ is the ideal partner for the Company."

Cadence Minerals CEO Kiran Morzaria commented: "The proposed funding and development partnership between EMH and utility giant CEZ further underscores the importance of Cinovec as a key future battery grade lithium supplier to the European lithium market. As a major shareholder in EMH, we fully support the board in this major milestone step for the Company."

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For further information:

Cadence Minerals plc	[phone]
Andrew Suckling
Kiran Morzaria
WH Ireland Limited (NOMAD & Broker)	[phone]
James Joyce
James Sinclair-Ford
Novum Securities Limited (Joint Broker)	[phone]
Jon Belliss

Qualified Person

Kiran Morzaria B.Eng. (ACSM), MBA, has reviewed and approved the information contained in this announcement. Kiran holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Industrial Geology) from the Camborne School of Mines and an MBA (Finance) from CASS Business School.

Forward-Looking Statements:

Certain statements in this announcement are or may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ''believe'' ''could'' "should" ''envisage'' ''estimate'' ''intend'' ''may'' ''plan'' ''will'' or the negative of those variations or comparable expressions including references to assumptions. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Cadence's future growth results of operations performance future capital and other expenditures (including the amount. nature and sources of funding thereof) competitive advantages business prospects and opportunities. Such forward-looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the Directors.  Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements including risks associated with vulnerability to general economic and business conditions competition environmental and other regulatory changes actions by governmental authorities the availability of capital markets reliance on key personnel uninsured and underinsured losses and other factors many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Although any forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are based upon what the Directors believe to be reasonable assumptions. The Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements.

 

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