Savannah Successfully Raises US$40 million

RNS Number : 6030D

Savannah Petroleum PLC

07 July 2016

 

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS RESTRICTED AND IS NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, JERSEY, SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL.

7 July 2016

Savannah Petroleum PLC

("Savannah", "Savannah Petroleum" or the "Company")

Savannah Successfully Raises US$40 million

Trading Restoration and Notice of General Meeting

Savannah Petroleum, the Niger focused oil and gas company, is pleased to announce the successful completion of the proposed placing, as announced on 5 July 2016 (the "Placing").

A total of 79,835,682 new ordinary shares of par value £0.001 each in Savannah Petroleum ("Ordinary Shares") have been conditionally placed at a price of 38 pence per Placing Share (the "Placing Shares").

As also announced, it is the intention of certain of the directors and senior management of the Company to subscribe for an aggregate amount of approximately 1,444,318 new Ordinary Shares (the "Subscription Shares") on the same terms governing the wider Placing within one trading day of this announcement (the "Subscription"). A further announcement will be made in due course regarding the Subscription.

Together, the Placing and the Subscription, are expected to raise gross proceeds of approximately US$40.0 million.

Mirabaud Securities LLP acted as Sole Bookrunner and Joint Lead Manager, Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited acted as Joint Lead Manager and Merriman Capital Inc. and Auerbach Grayson & Company LLC acted as US Placing Agents. Strand Hanson acted as Nominated Adviser.

Trading Restoration

As announced on 11 January 2016, the Ordinary Shares were suspended from trading on AIM on 11 January 2016. The trading suspension was at the request of the Company following it entering into a non-binding heads of terms regarding a potential transaction which, had it been completed on the proposed terms as set out in the agreement, would be classified as a reverse takeover under the AIM Rules.

The Board confirms that all discussions on the potential transaction have now been terminated and, in the near term, the Company's focus will be on developing and maximising the value of its existing assets. Trading in the Ordinary Shares will therefore recommence at 7.30 a.m. tomorrow.

Details of the Placing and Notice of GM

The Placing Shares and the Subscription Shares represent approximately 42.0 per cent. of the Company's existing issued ordinary share capital. The Placing Shares and the Subscription Shares will, when issued, be credited as fully paid and will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing Ordinary Shares, including the right to receive all dividends or other distributions made, paid or declared in respect of such shares after the date of issue of the Placing Shares and the Subscription Shares.

The Placing Shares are to be issued in two tranches, the second of which is conditional, inter alia, on the approval of Savannah shareholders:

First Tranche

A first tranche of 19,334,000 new Ordinary Shares (the "First Placing Shares") will issued and admitted to trading on 11 July 2016, raising gross proceeds of approximately US$9.5 million.

Second Tranche

A second tranche of 60,501,682 new Ordinary Shares (the "Second Placing Shares") will be issued and admitted to trading on or around 26 July 2016, subject to, inter alia, the receipt of shareholder approval of the necessary resolutions to enable the issue of the Second Placing Shares.

The issue of the Subscription Shares will also be subject to, inter alia, the receipt of shareholder approval and it is intended that they will be admitted to trading at the same time as the Second Placing Shares.

The Company will today be posting a circular to shareholder convening a general meeting of the Company to be held on 25 July 2016 for the purpose of considering, inter alia, the necessary resolutions.

Admission to Trading and Total Voting Rights

Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the First Placing Shares, which rank pari passu with the Ordinary Shares, to be admitted to trading on AIM. Dealings are expected to commence at 8.00 a.m. on 11 July 2016. Following the issue of the First Placing Shares, the Company will have 212,675,447 Ordinary Shares in issue and there are no shares held in treasury. This is the total number of voting rights in the Company and may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Rules and the Transparency Rules.

Andrew Knott, CEO of Savannah Petroleum, said:

"Further to Tuesday's announcement of the proposed placing, and the accompanying positive operational update, we are very pleased to be able to announce the successful results.  This fund raise was oversubscribed and has been extremely well supported by both existing and new shareholders who we thank, as well as by the management team.  This is a strong endorsement of our strategy and ensures we are funded to move the assets to the next level of value creation.  From here we can now look forward to the imminent recommencement of ground operations with the 3D seismic programme at R3, which will in turn help us maximize the chances of a successful drilling campaign in 2017.  This is an extremely exciting time in the Savannah story and we look forward to providing further updates in the weeks ahead."

For further information contact:
Savannah Petroleum	[phone]
Andrew Knott, CEO
Jessica Hostage, Corporate Communications
Celicourt Communications	[phone]
Mark Antelme
Jimmy Lea
Mirabaud (Sole Bookrunner, Joint Lead Manager & Broker)	[phone]
Peter Krens
Edward Haig-Thomas
Panmure Gordon (Joint Lead Manager)	[phone]
Adam James Jamie Campbell
Strand Hanson (Nominated Adviser)	[phone]
Rory Murphy
James Spinney
Ritchie Balmer

 

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