African Eagle Resources PLC
 

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AFRICAN EAGLE ANNOUNCES £7.4 MILLION CAPITAL RAISING IN SOUTH AFRICA AND CONFIRMS INTENTION TO LIST ON THE JSE ALTX

News Report
31 July 2007

  • Irrevocable commitments for £7.4 million (ZAR 104 million) share placing
  • Listing on JSE ALTX scheduled for mid-August

African Eagle plc ("the Company"; Ticker "AFE") confirms that it is to seek a listing on ALTX, the alternative investment market of JSE Limited (JSE), the Johannesburg, South Africa, Stock Exchange. Ahead of the listing, which is scheduled for mid-August 2007, the Company has received commitments to participate in a share placing to raise capital of £7,408,054 (104,231,315 South African Rand).

African Eagle's Managing Director Mark Parker commented today: "Our debut on ALTX will provide the Company with access to an investor base which has a unique, long-standing knowledge of, and exposure to, the mineral resources sector. South African investors also have a deep understanding of the rewards and risks associated with mining and investment on the African continent. African Eagle will be one of the first resources companies with assets outside South Africa to list on ALTX.

"Following recent relaxations of exchange control regulations by the Reserve Bank, South African funds and individuals are now able to invest more widely into companies and projects in other African countries" added Parker. "In addition, the Africa Emerging Markets funds of a number of European and North American institutions are now managed from South Africa. The response to African Eagle's strategy and business model from these investors has been excellent.

"This is African Eagle's largest single capital raising. It will give the Company the financial muscle to advance its projects and to pursue its aim of holding significant participating interests in (and earning revenue from) several mining operations, starting with the Mkushi Copper Mines Project in Zambia, the Company's nearest term production project. A decision on whether and how to develop a mine at Mkushi will be made during the second half of next year.

"African Eagle has positioned itself as a diversified mineral explorer, pursuing a strategy of acquiring and exploring promising mineral properties in Eastern & Southern Africa. Once it has demonstrated the value of an asset, usually by delineating an indicated or inferred resource, the Company aims to take the project into production with a suitable development partner which has the appropriate engineering and mining skills and capital, while itself retaining a significant participating equity.

"This approach allows African Eagle to maintain a diverse project portfolio in terms of commodities and locations, to offset the risk that any one project will not succeed. It also minimises the need for the Company to raise capital in the market and permits it to focus on what it does best - project acquisition and exploration.

"While joint venture agreements ensure that Mkushi and Ndola in Zambia and Miyabi in Tanzania are fully funded to completion of a feasibility study, African Eagle holds many earlier stage projects outright and the funds now raised will allow us to advance these. Dutwa and Igurubi (gold), and Eagle Eye, Kampumba and Mokambo (copper) are promising projects in this category, while the Company's recently announced uranium portfolio will also be a high priority".

African Eagle's South African investment bank, corporate adviser and ALTX Sponsor, Nedbank Capital, has advised the Company that it has received irrevocable applications from South African investors to subscribe for 45,457,310 African Eagle shares at a price per share of 1.95 South African Rand (ZAR), for a total of ZAR 88,641,755. In addition, JP Morgan Fleming Natural Resources Fund, a long-standing existing shareholder in the UK, is subscribing for 8,000,000 shares at the sterling equivalent of R1.95, bringing the total capital to be raised to ZAR 104,231,315 or £7,408,054.

The Company's ALTX listing is expected to take place on or about 24th August, under the JSE's fast track procedure for AIM listed companies. The JSE ALTX Committee has approved African Eagle's request to apply for a listing, and a comprehensive Pre-Listing Statement, including the Company's recent accounts and a technical Competent Person's Report, has been submitted to the JSE to be checked for compliance with the Listing Requirements. The listing is subject to the Company obtaining of the requisite South African Exchange Control approvals.

African Eagle's ALTX Sponsor for the listing is Nedbank Capital, a division of Nedbank Limited, a leading South African bank which has dynamic corporate finance and investment arms.

Following completion of the placing, which will take place on African Eagle's admission to ALTX, the Company's total issued share capital will be 207,491,454 ordinary shares of one penny each ("Ordinary Shares"). The following will hold more than 3% of the Company's issued share capital:

 

Holder

Shares

Percent

RAB Capital (Special Situations Master Fund)

36,522,778

17.60

Stanlib Funds

30,256,410

14.58

JP Morgan Fleming funds

19,977,361

9.63

Peregrine Capital funds

8,765,000

4.22

Merck, Finck & Co

6,752,300

3.25

Directors of the Company

10,133,855

4.88

 

John Park
Chairman
African Eagle Resources plc

 

 
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