Application for share trading on the OTCQX Market

RNS Number : 0469Z

Tirupati Graphite PLC

19 May 2021

 

19 May 2021

Tirupati Graphite plc

('Tirupati' or the 'Company')

Application for share trading on the OTCQX Market

Tirupati Graphite plc, the fully integrated, revenue generative, specialist graphite producer and graphene and advanced materials developer with operations in Madagascar and India, is pleased to announce that it has filed an application to the OTC Markets Group for the Company's shares to be cross traded publicly on the OTCQX Market ('OTCQX'), which would make Tirupati's shares more widely available to North American investors.  Tirupati has engaged the corporate securities law firm of Galanopoulos & Company to act as its OTC Markets Sponsor in connection with the onboarding.

Trading on the US OTC market would have no impact on existing Tirupati ordinary shares trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and no new ordinary shares will be issued as part of the cross trade. Tirupati will continue to rely on the announcements and disclosures it makes to the London Stock Exchange and will have no Sarbanes-Oxley or SEC reporting requirements in connection with cross-trading on the OTCQX.

Upon successful application, the cross-trading facility will be provided through OTC Markets Group Inc., located in New York, USA.  OTC Markets operates the world's largest electronic interdealer quotation system for US broker dealers and offers multiple media channels to increase the visibility of OTC-traded companies.

Shishir Poddar, CEO of Tirupati Graphite, said : "The cross-trading of our shares on the OTCQX Market gives us access to a deeper pool of capital from U.S. dollar denominated investors in North America and exposes us to the US investment community, a region that is showing extensive interest from investors in our areas of activity. Additionally, listing on the OTCQX will enhance the Company's visibility in North America where we have many potential customers for our graphite, graphene, and advanced materials all-encompassing products. The potential US customer base for Tirupati includes industry players in the energy storage and electric vehicles, thermal management and flame retardants, composites and advanced materials sectors, and more, and for the new age materials we are developing, and we aim to increase visibility in the US, which is a massive addressable market for our full suite of green products.

"Dual trading on the OTC Markets represents an important step for the Company both for diversification of its share register and for increasing visibility for buyers. We will update the market on the progress of our application, ticker code and commencement of trading of Tirupati shares on OTCQX in due course."

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For further information, please visit https://www.tirupatigraphite.co.uk/ or contact:

Tirupati Graphite Plc Puruvi Poddar	[phone]
Optiva Securities Limited (Broker) Daniel Ingram	[phone]
St Brides Partners Ltd (Financial PR) Isabel de Salis / Cosima Akerman	[phone]

Notes

Tirupati Graphite Plc is a revenue-generative, multi-asset, multi-jurisdictional, fully integrated producer and developer of high-grade natural flake graphite, speciality graphite and graphene, which captures the entire value chain.  With a unique set of properties, graphite has diverse applications with multiple growth streams and graphene forms the new generation of 2D materials. In support of this, the Company places a special emphasis on "green" applications, including renewable energy generation, energy storage and composites, and is committed to ensuring its operations are sustainable as well.

The Company's operations include primary mining and processing in Madagascar, where the Company operates two key projects, Sahamamy and Vatomina; 3,000 tpa of high-quality flake graphite concentrate with up to 96% purity is currently being produced and sold to customers globally, and this is planned to increase to 84,000 tpa by 2024 as per the Company's modular medium-term development plan.

In India, through Tirupati Speciality Graphite Private Limited ('TSG'), with whom the Company has a binding acquisition agreement subject to regulatory approvals, Tirupati processes and produces speciality graphite for use in hi-tech applications like lithium-ion batteries, fire retardants and composites. Its specialty graphite processing operations include the 1,200 tpa Patalganga Project, which was commissioned in July 2019 to manufacture and sell CARBOFLAMEX®, a trademarked fire-retardant expandable graphite product.  At the next stage of development, Patalganga shall further be expanded to 4,800 tpa capacity with capabilities to also produce high purity and micronised graphite, so increasing market and product reach by 2021. TSG has developed unique green processing technologies for manufacturing these advanced materials.

After establishing itself in the specialty graphite markets through the Patalganga Project, an additional 24,000 tpa specialty graphite processing facility is to be established in two 12,000 tpa phases.  The plant will produce expandable, high purity, micronised and spherical graphite.  The west coast of India has been chosen as the location and a detailed feasibility study has been completed.  TSG is also in the process of establishing the Tirupati Graphene and Mintech Research Centre, a state-of-the-art R&D centre focussed on manufacturing graphene, developing its applications, and further providing environmentally friendly technologies consultancy for mineral processing.  Land acquisition is in progress in Bhubaneswar, India, and a detailed feasibility study completed.

 

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