Salt Lake Potash Limited Placement increased to raise up to £10.25 million (8468D)

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RNS Number : 8468D

Salt Lake Potash Limited

02 May 2017

 
 2 May 2017   AIM/ASX Code: SO4 
 
 
                                   SALT LAKE POTASH LIMITED 
  Australian Capital Raising takes total Placement to GBP10.25 Million for Further Development 
                                of Goldfields Salt Lakes Project 
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Further to the announcements on 27 and 28 April 2017, Salt Lake Potash Limited (the Company or SO4) is pleased to announce that it has now received commitments from institutional and sophisticated investors in the United Kingdom and Australia to subscribe for a total of 41,000,000 new ordinary shares of no par value in the capital of the Company (Ordinary Shares), to raise gross proceeds of GBP10.25 million (the Placement).

The Placement includes 30,000,000 new Ordinary Shares in the Company that were placed by Cenkos at a price of 25 pence (approximately A$0.43) per Ordinary Share to raise gross proceeds of GBP7.5 million, as announced on 27 April 2017 (the UK Placement Shares).

A further 11,000,000 new Ordinary Shares have now been placed in Australia at a price of A$0.43 per Ordinary Share to raise additional gross proceeds of GBP2.75 million (A$4.73 million) (the Australian Placement Shares). Argonaut Securities Pty Limited acted as Manager to most of the Placement in Australia. Of the Australian Placement Shares, the issue and allotment of 10,300,000 Ordinary Shares is conditional upon receiving shareholder approval at a general meeting, to be convened in due course.

Proceeds from the Placement will be used for the planning and initial construction costs of a Pilot Plant at the Goldfields Salt Lakes Project, as well as ongoing resource investigation, process testwork, engineering and transport studies and working capital.

Commenting on the Placement, SO4's CEO, Matt Syme, said "We are very pleased to have successfully put in place the next stage of funding for our exciting sulphate of potash projects in Australia, where we are working very hard to become the first producer in a sector with outstanding potential. The excellent support we have received from our shareholders and advisers in the UK and Australia is a great help in our pursuit of that goal and we look forward to continued success together."

The Placement will be completed in two tranches as follows:

i. Firm Placement Shares: 30,700,000 Ordinary Shares (comprising the 30,000,000 UK Placement Shares and 700,000 of the Australian Placement Shares) will be issued under the Company's existing Listing Rule 7.1 (17,317,241 Ordinary Shares) and Listing Rule 7.1A (13,382,759 Ordinary Shares) authorities. Following the issue of these Ordinary Shares, the Company will have a 2,576,898 remaining issue capacity under ASX Listing Rule 7.1 and no remaining issue capacity under ASX Listing Rule 7.1A.

ii. Conditional Placement Shares: The issue of the residual balance of 10,300,000 Australian Placement Shares is conditional upon receiving shareholder approval at a general meeting of shareholders. The Company anticipates that these Conditional Placement Shares will be issued on or around Friday 16 June 2017, subject to receiving shareholder approval. A notice of general meeting will be sent to shareholders shortly.

Settlement and dealings

The UK and Australian Placement Shares will rank pari passu with the Company's existing Ordinary Shares. As announced on 27 April 2017, application has been made for admission of the 30,000,000 UK Placement Shares to trading on ASX and on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM), (First Admission). First Admission to AIM is expected to become effective at 8.00 a.m. on 4 May 2017.

Application has also been made for the admission of 700,000 of the Australian Placement Shares, representing the balance of the Firm Placement Shares, to trading on ASX and AIM (Second Admission). Second Admission to AIM is expected to become effective at 8.00 a.m. on or around 5 May 2017.

Following First Admission but before Second Admission, the Company's total issued and voting share capital will comprise 164,007,596 Ordinary Shares. The Company does not hold any shares in treasury. This figure of 164,007,596 Ordinary Shares may be used by the Company's shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

Following Second Admission, the Company's total issued and voting share capital will comprise 164,707,596 Ordinary Shares. This figure of 164,707,596 Ordinary Shares may be used by the Company's shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

The voluntary suspension of trading of the Company's shares on ASX was lifted prior to the opening of trade on 2 May 2017, following an announcement to the market regarding the above.

Information required under ASX Listing Rule 3.10.5A:

(a) Dilution to existing shareholders as a result of the issue under Listing Rule 7.1A is 9.1%, dilution to existing shareholders as a result of the issue under Listing Rule 7.1 is 11.4% and the total dilution to existing shareholders is 18.6%. Details regarding the participation of existing and new shareholders is not able to be determined yet and will be provided at completion;

(b) The Company will issue 13,382,759 shares under Listing Rule 7.1A because the Placement was considered to be a more efficient mechanism for raising funds. The Placement did not expose the Company to additional costs, a protracted process and market volatility that may have been experienced with a pro-rata issue or other type of issue in which existing ordinary shareholders would have been eligible to participate;

   (c)        No underwriting arrangements are in place for the Placement under rule 7.1A; and 

(d) A fee of up to 6% may be paid to the Brokers/Advisors in connection with the Placement under rule 7.1A.

For further information please visit www.saltlakepotash.com.au or contact:

 
 Matthew Syme/Sam Cordin                      Salt Lake Potash Limited   Tel: [phone] 
 Colin Aaronson/Richard Tonthat/Daniel Bush   Grant Thornton UK LLP      Tel: [phone] 
 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Forward Looking Statements

This announcement may include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on Salt Lake Potash Limited's expectations and beliefs concerning future events. Forward looking statements are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the control of Salt Lake Potash Limited, which could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Salt Lake Potash Limited makes no undertaking to subsequently update or revise the forward-looking statements made in this announcement, to reflect the circumstances or events after the date of that announcement.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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May 02, 2017 02:15 ET (06:15 GMT)