Trident Royalties PLC. Ex-Glencore Senior Executive Appointed as Chair (3150C)

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RNS Number : 3150C

Trident Royalties PLC.

18 June 2021

18 June 2021

Trident Royalties Plc

("Trident" or the "Company")

Appointment of Ex-Glencore Senior Executive as Chair

& Board Changes

Trident Royalties Plc (AIM: TRR, FSX: 5KV), is pleased to announce the appointment of Paul Smith as Non-Executive Chair with effect from 21 June. James Kelly will step down as Chair from that date but will remain on the Board as a Non-Executive Director. Additionally, Mark Potter will step down from his position as a Non-Executive Director with immediate effect, to pursue other business interests. As set out in more detail below, Mr Smith has indicated a willingness to make an equity investment in the Company and it is intended that Mr Smith will today subscribe for new shares in Trident with a value of GBP1 million at a price of 40p per share (the "Subscription Price") and up to a further GBP1 million at the Subscription Price within the next 12 months.

Paul Smith worked for Glencore Plc from 2011 until 2020. As Head of Strategy, his principal areas of focus were capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and capital allocation. During this period Glencore successfully completed numerous large scale corporate and capital markets transactions, most notably the $90bn merger with Xstrata Plc.

While at Glencore, Paul was also the CFO of Katanga Mining Limited, Glencore`s TSX listed subsidiary from 2019 until its de-listing in 2020. In addition, he represented Glencore as a non-executive director of Lonmin Plc and Glencore Agriculture Limited.

Prior to Glencore, Paul was an analyst and fund manager at Marshall Wace Asset Management, where he focused on cyclical sectors, including mining. Paul qualified as a Chartered Accountant before working in investment banking at Close Brothers and Credit Suisse. He has an MA in Modern History from Oxford University.

Paul Smith, commented:

"I am delighted to have been asked to become the new Chairman of Trident Royalties at what is an exciting time in the Company's development. Under James's leadership, Trident has quickly established itself as a credible provider of metals royalties and streams, with 12 royalties already in place and others under consideration. Trident is well positioned to grow through a combination of primary issuance of royalties and streams and by consolidating the extensive pool of existing ones.

"De-carbonising the global economy will require material increases in the production of enabling metals, such as copper. The cost of building the associated incremental mine capacity will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. This will lead to an increasing demand for alternative sources of development capital, including royalties and streams.

"Trident's goal is to build a large-scale royalty and streaming company which is also diversified by the commodity, geography and maturity of the underlying projects. I look forward to helping Adam and his team to maximise the value of this opportunity for our shareholders."

James Kelly, commented:

"I am exceptionally proud that in a little over 12 months, we have rapidly executed on our strategy and built Trident into a diversified mining royalty company with a portfolio of attractive assets, operating cash flow and a board and management team of the highest calibre. We have enjoyed strong growth in both the share price and market capitalisation; testament to the strategy and the hard work of all involved.

"We now have a solid platform for further growth, and I am delighted that Paul will be joining us as our new chairman. I believe that Paul, with his experience and network, is well qualified to lead Trident for this next phase as we look to rapidly scale the business.

"I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Mark for his contribution to Trident; his royalty and investing experience has been invaluable to both the board and the Company as a whole and we wish him well in his future endeavours."

Proposed investment of up to GBP2 million

Paul Smith, through Collingwood Capital Partners AG, a Company of which Paul Smith is the sole shareholder, intends to invest up to GBP2 million in the Company. It is proposed that this will comprise an initial subscription for 2,500,000 new ordinary shares of GBP0.01 each in the capital of the Company ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 40p per share for aggregate proceeds of GBP1,000,000. This subscription is expected to take place prior to his appointment to the Trident board. The Subscription Price represents a premium of 4% to the volume weighted average price for the Ordinary Shares in the 5 trading days prior to the date of this announcement.

In addition, Collingwood Capital Partners AG will have the right, exercisable at any time up to 17 June 2022 to subscribe for an additional 2,500,000 Ordinary Shares at the Subscription Price, such period being extended where any exercise would be prohibited by law on the business day prior to the expiry of the right.

The investment agreement is expected to be signed with Collingwood Capital Partners AG later today and a further announcement will be made in due course.

Revised board committees

Following the board changes set out above, from Paul's appointment becoming effective the sub-committees of the board will be amended and will be constituted as follows:

 
 Audit Committee       Remuneration Committee   Nominations Committee 
 James Kelly (Chair)   Al Gourley (Chair)       Paul Smith (Chair) 
                      -----------------------  ---------------------- 
 Al Gourley            Helen Pein               James Kelly 
                      -----------------------  ---------------------- 
 Paul Smith            Paul Smith               Helen Pein 
                      -----------------------  ---------------------- 
 

Letter of Appointment

Paul Smith and the Company will enter into a letter of appointment for an initial term of 12 months from 21 June 2021, subject to his re-election at the Company's AGM. Thereafter his appointment will continue until terminated by either party on six months' notice. Paul Smith will be paid GBP85,000 per annum and in line with other directors he has agreed to apply of portion of this, being GBP25,000 in the case of Paul Smith to the subscription for shares following the announcement of the Company's annual results at the 5-day volume weighted average price for the 5 trading days prior to the payment date. Such subscription will be pro-rated for 2021.

Further regulatory Information in relation to the appointment of Mr Paul Smith

 
 Full name:                                           Paul Norman Smith 
 Age:                                                          50 years 
                                       -------------------------------- 
 Current directorships or               Collingwood Capital Partners AG 
  partnerships: 
                                       -------------------------------- 
 Former directorships or partnerships      Glencore Agriculture Limited 
  (previous 5 years): 
                                       -------------------------------- 
 Ordinary shares held in the             42,000 (0.02% of the Company's 
  Company                                         issued share capital) 
  (at 18 June 2021 and prior 
  to the Investment referred 
  to in this announcement) 
                                       -------------------------------- 
 

There is no further information required to be disclosed under Rule 17 or paragraph (g) of Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules for Companies.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

** Ends **

Contact details:

 
 Trident Royalties Plc                         www.tridentroyalties.com 
  Adam Davidson                                       [phone] 
 Grant Thornton (Nominated Adviser)             www.grantthornton.co.uk 
  Colin Aaronson / Samantha Harrison /                [phone] 
  Lukas Girzadas 
                                            --------------------------- 
 Tamesis Partners LLP (Joint Broker)            www.tamesispartners.com 
  Richard Greenfield                                   [phone] 
                                            --------------------------- 
 Shard Capital Partners LLP (Joint Broker)         www.shardcapital.com 
  Erik Woolgar / Isabella Pierre                       [phone] 
                                            --------------------------- 
 St Brides Partners Ltd (Financial PR        www.stbridespartners.co.uk 
  & IR)                                                [phone] 
  Susie Geliher / Catherine Leftley / 
  Charlotte Hollinshead 
                                            --------------------------- 
 

About Trident

Trident is a growth-focused, diversified mining royalty and streaming company, providing investors with exposure to a mix of base and precious metals, bulk materials (excluding thermal coal) and battery metals.

Key highlights of Trident's strategy include:

-- Building a royalty and streaming portfolio to broadly mirror the commodity exposure of the global mining sector (excluding thermal coal) with a bias towards production or near-production assets, differentiating Trident from the majority of peers which are exclusively, or heavily weighted, to precious metals;

-- Acquiring royalties and streams in resource-friendly jurisdictions worldwide, while most competitors have portfolios focused on North and South America;

-- Targeting attractive small-to-mid size transactions which are often ignored in a sector dominated by large players;

-- Active deal-sourcing which, in addition to writing new royalties and streams, will focus on the acquisition of assets held by natural sellers, such as: closed-end funds, prospect generators, junior and mid-tier miners holding royalties as non-core assets, and counterparties seeking to monetise packages of royalties and streams which are otherwise undervalued by the market;

-- Maintaining a low-overhead model which is capable of supporting a larger scale business without a commensurate increase in operating costs; and

-- Leveraging the experience of management, the board of directors, and Trident's adviser team, all of whom have deep industry connections and strong transactional experience across multiple commodities and jurisdictions.

The acquisition and aggregation of individual royalties and streams is expected to deliver strong returns for shareholders as assets are acquired on terms reflective of single asset risk compared with the lower risk profile of a diversified, larger scale portfolio. Further value is expected to be delivered by the introduction of conservative levels of leverage through debt. Once scale has been achieved, strong cash generation is expected to support an attractive dividend policy, providing investors with a desirable mix of inflation protection, growth and income.

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