£16 MILLION PLACING AHEAD OF AIM ADMISSION

RNS Number : 7402N

Trident Resources Plc

22 May 2020

 

22 May 2020

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Trident Resources Plc

("Trident" or the "Company")

Successful Placing of £16 million

Debt Mandate Signed

Admission to Trading on AIM Expected 2 June 2020  

HIGHLIGHTS 

· Successful placing to raise £16 million (approximately US$20 million) at 20p per share;

· Mandate signed with Tribeca Global Resources Credit for an acquisition debt facility of up to US$ 10 million;

· Shareholders of Fe Limited approve Trident's acquisition of a 1.5% FOB royalty over part of the Koolyanobbing Iron Ore Operation; and

· Admission to trading on AIM expected 2 June 2020.

Trident is pleased to announce that it has successfully placed 80 million new ordinary shares of 1p each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 20 pence per Ordinary Share (the "Placing Price"), raising gross proceeds of approximately £16 million (approximately US$20 million) for the Company (the "Placing").

The Placing was led by Tamesis Partners LLP, Ashanti Capital Pty Limited and Azure Capital Pty Limited (the "Joint Bookrunners") and received strong support from both existing shareholders and new investors.  

Directors and senior management of the Company have subscribed for a total of 2,835,000 Ordinary Shares at the Placing Price pursuant to the Placing for aggregate proceeds of £567,000. 

In addition, the Company is pleased to announce that it has entered into an exclusive mandate letter with Tribeca Global Resources Credit in relation to the arranging, underwriting and raising of an acquisition debt facility of up to approximately US$10 million on credit terms to be agreed, with right of first refusal on debt proposals during the mandate period.

The Company notes the announcement today by Fe Limited ("FEL"), confirming that FEL shareholders have approved the Company's acquisition of a 1.5% free on board royalty over part of the Koolyanobbing Iron Ore Operation in Western Australia (the "Acquisition"). The Acquisition remains conditional upon the approval of the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board, which is expected to be received shortly. 

As announced on 25 March 2020 and 15 May 2020, the Company is proposing to cancel the listing of the Company's Ordinary Shares on the standard segment of the Official List of the FCA and to request the London Stock Exchange to cancel the admission to trading of the Shares on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange, and to seek admission to trading on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange ("Admission").

The Placing is conditional upon a Placing Agreement between the Company, the Joint Bookrunners and Grant Thornton UK LLP in relation to the Placing becoming unconditional in all respects, certain shareholder approvals being received at the Company's Annual General Meeting scheduled for 27 May 2020, and Admission. Admission is expected to occur at 8.00 a.m. on or around 2 June 2020.

Following Admission, the Company's issued share capital will comprise 103,500,000 Ordinary Shares, giving the Company a market capitalisation at the Placing Price of approximately £21 million (approximately US$25 million).

From Admission, the figure of 103,500,000 may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

The Placing shares will be issued credited as fully paid and will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares of the Company, including the right to receive all dividends and other distributions (if any) declared, made or paid on or in respect of such shares after the date of their issue.

Further to the announcement made by the Company on 29 April 2020, the last day of trading of the Ordinary Shares on the main market of the London Stock Exchange will be 1 June 2020, or such later date as the Company may announce.

Adam Davidson, Chief Executive of Trident commented:

"I am delighted and humbled by the support we received for the placing both from existing shareholders, as well as incoming investors. To have achieved such an outstanding result for a new offering in what is clearly a very challenging market bears testament to the strength of our strategy.

"With approximately US$20 million of new equity capital, we are now very well placed to execute our plan of building a diversified portfolio of royalties and streams through both primary financing transactions and secondary market acquisitions. In addition, it unlocks our ability to offer both cash consideration, as well as equity to vendors keen to participate in the growth of the Company and the value we expect to create along the way.

"Following the announcement of our first acquisition of a royalty over the Koolyanobbing Iron Ore Operation in Western Australia, we have a strong pipeline of opportunities to execute on following Admission. I look forward to providing further updates on our progress in due course."

Enquiries:

Trident Resources Plc Adam Davidson	www.tridentresources.co.uk [phone]
Tamesis Partners LLP Richard Greenfield	www.tamesispartners.com [phone]
Yellow Jersey Charles Goodwin	www.yellowjerseypr.com [phone]
Azure Capital Pty Ltd John Toll	www.azurecapital.com.au [phone]
Ashanti Capital Pty Ltd Rob Hamilton	www.ashanticapital.com.au [phone]

About Trident

Trident is a growth-focused diversified mining royalty and streaming company, aiming to provide investors with exposure to a mix of base and precious metals, bulk materials (excluding thermal coal) and battery metals.

Key highlights of Trident's strategy include:

· Constructing a royalty and streaming portfolio to broadly mirror the commodity exposure of the global mining sector (excluding thermal coal) with a bias towards production or near-production assets, differentiating Trident from the majority of peers which are exclusively, or heavily weighted, to precious metals;

· Acquiring royalties and streams in resources-friendly jurisdictions worldwide, while most competitors have portfolios focused on North and South America;

· Targeting attractive small-to-mid size transactions which are often ignored in a sector dominated by large players;

· Active deal-sourcing which, in addition to writing new royalties and streams, will focus on the acquisition of assets held by natural sellers such as: closed-end funds, prospect generators, junior and mid-tier miners holding royalties as non-core assets, and counterparties seeking to monetise packages of royalties and streams which are otherwise undervalued by the market;  

· Maintaining a low-overhead model which is capable of supporting a larger scale business without a commensurate increase in operating costs; and

· Leveraging the experience of management, the board of directors, and Trident's adviser team, all of whom have deep industry connections and strong transactional experience across multiple commodities and jurisdictions.

The acquisition and aggregation of individual royalties and streams is expected to deliver strong returns for shareholders as assets are acquired on terms reflective of single asset risk compared with the lower risk profile of a diversified, larger scale portfolio. Further value is expected to be delivered by the introduction of conservative levels of leverage through debt. Once scale has been achieved, strong cash generation is expected to support an attractive dividend policy, providing investors with a desirable mix of inflation protection, growth and income.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Note: for the purposes of this Announcement figures have been calculated based on an exchange rate of £1.00 = US$1.223.

Forward-looking Statements

This news release contains forward ‐ looking information. The statements are based on reasonable assumptions and expectations of management and Trident provides no assurance that actual events will meet management's expectations. In certain cases, forward ‐ looking information may be identified by such terms as "anticipates", "believes", "could", "estimates", "expects", "may", "shall", "will", or "would". Although Trident believes the expectations expressed in such forward ‐ looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected. Mining exploration and development is an inherently risky business. In addition, factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from the forward-looking information stated herein include any factors which affect decisions to pursue mineral exploration on the relevant property and the ultimate exercise of option rights, which may include changes in market conditions, changes in metal prices, general economic and political conditions, environmental risks, and community and non-governmental actions. Such factors will also affect whether Trident will ultimately receive the benefits anticipated pursuant to relevant agreements. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the forward ‐ looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

 

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