7th Mar 2018 09:29
Saffron shares were suspended towards the end of February at its own request pending a change to planned acquisitions the company had already announced.
The company then, on Wednesday last week, said it had pulled out of a deal to buy Po Valley Energy Ltd's Italian assets through the issue of 200.0 million new shares to Po Valley shareholders. Po Valley is already the 50% shareholder of Saffron.
Instead, Saffron decided to focus on possible south-east Asian acquisitions, on which it said it was making good progress.
Alongside the Po Valley deal, Saffron is buying Sound Energy PLC's subsidiary Sound Energy Holdings Italy Ltd for 185.9 million Saffron shares and a 5% royalty on all revenue derived from the exploration licence DR74AP, also known as Laura.
The Po Valley and Sound Italy acquisitions were both announced in January.
The Sound Italy purchase is still going ahead but is conditional on Saffron shareholder approval at the end of March and the completion of the
Saffron had planned to place up to 319.6 million new shares at a price of
After completion of the acquisition, Saffron will change its name to Coro Energy PLC, and the consideration shares given to Sound will represent 26% on the enlarged share capital of the renamed business.
Po Valley has agreed to a 12 month lock-in which it will not sell any shares in Saffron.
Saffron Chief Executive Sara Edmonson said: "I am pleased to confirm the support of our new investors as we today publish our supplementary AIM Admission Document and our shares resume trading.
"With our funding confirmed, we now turn our heads to the exciting developments in
Saffron shares were down 4.4% on Wednesday morning at