28 September 2016
Bezant Resources Plc
("Bezant" or the "Company")
Bezant (AIM: BZT), the AIM listed mineral exploration and development company, today announces the issue of 1,468,600 new ordinary shares of 0.2 pence each in the capital of the Company in satisfaction of certain accrued directors fees and salaries which have been unpaid since 1 June 2016 (the "Director Fee Shares").
The Company's directors had voluntarily suspended certain cash payments in respect of of their remuneration from 1 June 2016 to 28 September 2016 in order to conserve cash within the Company. Further to the announcement of 19 September 2016, the Directors have now finalised the conversion of all outstanding fees due as at 27 September 2016 into ordinary shares, in order to continue conserving the Company's cash reserves as Bezant commences bulk sampling, evaluation and exploration of its Colombian Platinum and Gold assets.
The conversion will be made at the volume weighted average price ("VWAP") of the Company's shares over the period the fees were outstanding. The VWAP over the period of approximately 2.5 pence per share represents a premium of approximately 5 per cent. to the closing mid-market share price of 2.38 pence on 27 September 2016. In total, unpaid fees of, in aggregate, £36,715 will be converted into 1,468,600 Director Fee Shares.
Following the issue of the Director Fee Shares, the beneficial shareholdings of each director of Bezant will be as follows:
Director |
Position |
Current shareholding Of ordinary shares |
Shares issued in settlement of accrued fees and salaries |
Resultant holding of Ordinary Shares |
Percentage of the enlarged issued share capital following Admission |
Edward Nealon |
Non-Executive Chairman |
6,250,000 |
420,000 |
6,670,000 |
3.37% |
Dr Bernard Olivier |
Executive Director |
497,800 |
560,000 |
1,057,800 |
0.53% |
Laurence Read |
Executive Director |
0 |
138,600 |
138,600 |
0.07% |
Dr. Evan Kirby |
Non-Executive Director |
0 |
350,000 |
350,000 |
0.18% |
Application to trading on AIM
Application will be been made for the 1,468,600 Director Fee Shares to be admitted to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange ("Admission"). It is expected that Admission will become effective and that dealings in the Director Fee Shares will commence at 8.00 a.m. on or around 10 October 2016. Following Admission the Company's total issued share capital will consist of 197,751,762 ordinary shares with voting rights. The Company does not hold any ordinary shares in treasury and accordingly there are no voting rights in respect of any treasury shares. The Director Fee Shares will be fully paid and will rank pari passu in all respects with the Company's existing ordinary shares.
On Admission, the above figure of 197,751,762 Ordinary Shares 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, Bezant under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
Related Party Transaction
The issue of the abovementioned new Ordinary Shares in lieu of accrued fees and salaries to certain of the directors of the Company is considered to be a related party transaction for the purposes of Rule 13 of the AIM Rules for Companies. Accordingly, the independent director, being Ronnie Siapno, a Non-Executive Director of the Company, considers, having consulted with Strand Hanson Limited (the Company's Nominated Adviser), that the terms of the issue of the Director Fee Shares are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's shareholders are concerned.
Exumax Update
Further to the Company's announcement of 7 September 2016, completion of the acquisition of Birkenhead Estates S.A., in connection with the Company's exploration agreement with Exumax, is now expected to occur on or before 15 October 2016 and a further announcement confirming completion will be made in due course.
For further information, please contact:
Bezant Resources Plc Bernard Olivier Chief Executive Officer
Laurence Read Executive Director / Communications Officer
|
Tel: +61 40 894 8182
Tel: +44 (0)20 3289 9923 |
Strand Hanson Limited (Nomad) James Harris / Matthew Chandler / James Dance
|
Tel: +44 (0)20 7409 3494 |
Beaufort Securities Limited (Broker) Elliot Hance |
Tel: +44 (0)20 7382 8300 |
or visit http://www.bezantresources.com
The Company's ordinary shares of 0.2 pence each are traded on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange with identification code GB00B1CKQD97.
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 ("MAR").