Gasol plc Signing of US$76 million debt facility (4356X)

TIDMGAS

RNS Number : 4356X

Gasol plc

10 January 2014

10 January 2014

Gasol plc ("Gasol" or the "Company")

Signing of US$76 million debt facility with Deutsche Bank

The board of Gasol is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into a US$76 million debt facility (the "Facility") with Deutsche Bank to partly fund its proposed acquisition of 100% of the issued share capital of Energie de Côte d'Ivoire S.A. ("Enerci") (the "Acquisition") from GDF SUEZ E&P International S.A. (the "Seller"). The Acquisition was announced by Gasol on 20 December, 2013 and Gasol's shares were suspended with effect from 23 December, 2013 as by virtue of Enerci's size relative to the Company's, the Acquisition constitutes a reverse takeover under the AIM Rules for Companies.

The Facility has a final maturity of 13 months from satisfaction of all conditions precedent under the Facility. The interest rate under the Facility during the term is LIBOR plus between 4 and 9 per cent.

Entry into the US$76m debt facility with Deutsche Bank triggers the payment by Gasol to the Seller of a deposit of US$2m (the "Deposit") under the Acquisition Agreement with the Seller, which will form part of the consideration payable at completion. The Deposit is repayable by the Seller to the Company in certain circumstances.

The Acquisition constitutes a reverse takeover under the AIM Rules for Companies and, accordingly, is conditional upon the publication of an admission document by the Company and the approval of the Company's shareholders at general meeting. Completion of the Acquisition is also conditional upon, inter alia:

   --    approval of the Acquisition by the government of Côte d'Ivoire; and 
   --    waiver of their pre-emption rights by Enerci's venture partners. 

For completion of the Acquisition to take place, all conditions under the SPA need to be satisfied by six months from today or such later date as the Company and the Seller may agree.

 
 Gasol plc 
  Alan Buxton, Chief Operating Officer                [phone] 
 Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Nomad and Broker) 
  Dominic Morley (Corporate Finance) 
  Callum Stewart (Corporate Finance) 
  Adam Pollock (Corporate Broking)                    [phone] 
 BMO Capital Markets (Exclusive Financial Advisor) 
  Vicary Gibbs                                        [phone] 
  Tom Rider 
 
  Deutsche Bank Communications 
  Michael Lermer                                       [phone] 
 Yellow Jersey PR Limited 
  Dominic Barretto 
  Kelsey Traynor                                      [phone] 
 
 

About Gasol plc

Gasol plc is an AIM listed energy development company focusing on gas constrained nations. Power stations in West Africa currently operate predominantly on liquid fuels such as diesel, light crude and jet fuel, but many of these plants are also capable of using gas. Gasol will initially supply these customers with gas from regasified Liquefied Natural Gas ("LNG"), which can provide significant cost savings in the order of 20 to 30 per cent. This involves the delivery of LNG to leased Floating Storage and Regasification Facilities which will be positioned in Cotonou harbour, Benin and will supply the regasified LNG into the West African Gas Pipeline. The West African Gas Pipeline is a 678km gas pipeline involving an investment of over US$1 billion, built to transport gas from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana which has been operational since March 2011, but today operates at significantly less than full capacity . Once there is sufficient regional demand for gas, Gasol aims to develop captive gas reserves in offshore Nigeria and will supply this gas through the West African Gas Pipeline. This pipeline gas will be cheaper and therefore displace the LNG derived gas, resulting in further savings for customers.

As part of a consortium called Electrogas Malta, Gasol has also been awarded a LNG-to-power project by Malta's state power utility Enemalta, as the country aims to lower its energy costs. Electrogas Malta is a consortium made up of Gasol, SOCAR Trading SA, GEM Holdings Ltd and Siemens Project Ventures, the equity financial arm of Siemens Financial Services.

Gasol's shares have been listed on London Stock Exchange's AIM since 2005 with the ticker code "GAS". Further information on the Company is available at www.gasolplc.com.

BMO Capital Markets Limited ("BMO Capital Markets"), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, is acting exclusively for Gasol and no-one else in connection with the Acquisition. BMO Capital Markets will not regard any other person as its client in relation to the Acquisition and will not be responsible to anyone other than Gasol for providing the protections afforded to its clients, nor for providing advice in relation to the Acquisition, the contents of this announcement or any transaction, arrangement or other matter referred to herein.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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