Firestone Diamonds PLC Results of General Meeting and Open Offer (9544Z)

TIDMFDI

RNS Number : 9544Z

Firestone Diamonds PLC

20 December 2017

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE INFORMATION IN IT, IS RESTRICTED, AND IS NOT FOR PUBLICATION, RELEASE OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN OR THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA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

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT ITSELF CONSTITUTE AN OFFER FOR SALE OR SUBSCRIPTION OF ANY SECURITIES IN THE COMPANY. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT HAS BEEN ISSUED BY AND IS THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE COMPANY.

20 December 2017

Firestone Diamonds plc

("Firestone" or the "Company") (AIM: FDI)

Results of General Meeting and Open Offer

Completion of Firm Placing and Placing

Firestone Diamonds plc ("Firestone" or the "Company"), the AIM-quoted diamond company, is pleased to announce that at the Company's General Meeting, held earlier today, all the resolutions proposed (the "Resolutions") were duly passed.

On 1 December 2017, the Company announced that it had conditionally raised gross proceeds of GBP18.5 million (US$25 million) through a proposed issue of 147,888,528 Firm Placing Shares and 36,954,356 Placing Shares at an issue price of 10 pence per share. In addition, the Company announced that the 36,954,356 Placing Shares would be subject to clawback through an Open Offer in order to provide Qualifying Shareholders with an opportunity to participate in the Fundraising at the Issue Price.

The Open Offer closed for acceptances at 11.00 a.m. on 19 December 2017 in accordance with its terms. The Company has received valid acceptances under the Open Offer in respect of 9,172,358 Open Offer Shares pursuant to Qualifying Shareholders' Open Offer Entitlements and a further 1,787,192 Open Offer Shares pursuant to Excess Open Offer Entitlements. A total of 10,959,550 Open Offer Shares, representing approximately 29.66% of the total Open Offer Shares available pursuant to the Open Offer, will therefore be issued to Qualifying Shareholders and will provide the Company with gross proceeds of approximately GBP1.1 million through the Open Offer. Qualifying Shareholders who validly applied for Open Offer Shares pursuant to their Open Offer Entitlement will receive the full amount of Open Offer Shares they applied for and will also receive the full amount of the Open Offer Shares applied for under the Excess Application Facility.

The remaining 25,994,806 Open Offer Shares not applied for by Qualifying Shareholders under the Open Offer will be taken up by Placees under the terms of the Placing.

As also announced on 1 December 2017, the following Directors are subscribing for New Ordinary Shares at the Issue Price pursuant to the Fundraising.

 
 Director           No. of Ordinary       No. of Ordinary       No. of Ordinary            Percentage 
                        Shares held     Shares subscribed           Shares held           of Enlarged 
                           prior to              pursuant             following          Issued Share 
                    the Fundraising    to the Fundraising            completion               Capital 
                                                             of the Fundraising        held following 
                                                                                           completion 
                                                                                   of the Fundraising 
 Lucio Genovese           2,846,944               739,372             3,586,316                  0.71 
 Stuart Brown               507,148               369,686               876,834                  0.17 
 Keith Johnson              282,997               110,906               393,903                  0.08 
 

Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for 184,842,884 New Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission"), with admission expected to be effective at 8.00 a.m. on 21 December 2017.

Following Admission, the Company's total issued share capital will comprise 505,113,970 Ordinary Shares and this figure may be used by Shareholders 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 Company under the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules of the Financial Conduct Authority.

For more information contact:

 
                                         +44 (0)20 
 Firestone Diamonds plc                  8741 7810 
 Stuart Brown 
 
 Macquarie Capital (Europe) Limited      +44 (0)20 
  (Nomad and Broker)                     3037 2000 
 Nick Stamp 
  Nicholas Harland 
 Guy de Freitas 
 
 Tavistock (Public and Investor          +44 (0)20 
  Relations)                             7920 3150 
                                       +44 (0)7788 
 Simon Hudson                              554 035 
 Jos Simson 
 Barney Hayward 
 

Background information on Firestone

Firestone is an international diamond mining company with operations focused in Lesotho. Firestone commenced commercial production in July 2017 at the Liqhobong Diamond Mine in Lesotho.

Lesotho is emerging as one of Africa's significant new diamond producers, hosting Gem Diamonds' Letseng Mine, Firestone's Liqhobong Mine and Namakwa Diamonds' Kao Mine.

For more information please visit: www.firestonediamonds.com.

**ENDS**

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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December 20, 2017 07:17 ET (12:17 GMT)