10th Jun 2015 11:15
LONDON (Alliance News) - Tau Capital PLC is continuing to sell its remaining assets, Chairman Philip Lambert said on Wednesday.
The company sold Lucent Petroleum LLP for USD250,000 in March and is now looking to dispose of Stopharm LLP.
Lambert said the company is still on track to sell Stopharm. The company has had an offer to sell it for USD7.0 million to Capital Gate Securities Ltd.
However, the chairman said, "following the financial crisis in Russia and pressure on the Kazakh currency, there has been increasing pressure from the bankers to Stopharm to improve their liquidity and it is likely that shareholders will be asked to make subordinated loans to Stopharm to provide this working capital."
The maximum sum that we understand Tau may be asked to contribute is USD700,000 but we have stated that any loan will only be made out of the proceeds of the sale to Capital Gate Securities Ltd. The terms of the loan have yet to be agreed but we understand that it may be possible to sell the loan on at a discount.
Lambert said the board will "explore every opportunity" to divest Tau's assets so that money can be distributed to shareholders.
"Following the completion of the disposal of the private investments, and subsequent return of the majority of cash reserves to shareholders, the board believe there may be value in the company as a quoted cash shell company, and are seeking a disposal of the cash shell as a going concern, as an alternative to a liquidation to maximise value for shareholders," Lambert said.
The company and its subsidiaries had USD2.2 million in cash reserves at the end of 2014, with a operational cash outflow of USD550,000 projected for 2015, meaning the company has "around four years" of working capital.
Tau Capital made a USD7.4 million loss in 2014, compared with USD19.9 million in the prior year.
Shares in Tau Capital were untraded on Wednesday. The stock last traded at USD0.140.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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