10th Mar 2005 10:17
Kenmare Resources PLC10 March 2005 KENMARE RESOURCES PLC Kenmare Resources wins second international Deal of the Year award Thursday, 10 March 2005. Kenmare Resources' work in developing its US$450million Moma Titanium Minerals project in Mozambique has won a Deal of the Year2004 Award at the Project Finance magazine awards announced in London lastnight. This is the second international award Kenmare has won in recent months,and follows the Mine Finance Award for 2004 from the Mining Journal. Awarded the African Mining Deal of the Year, Kenmare's investment represents thebiggest structured finance package ever put together for a development by anon-major mining company. The deal comprised a US$269 million loan agreementaccompanied by the raising of US$97 million in equity. Kenmare's Moma financingreceived the award because of the highly complex nature of the deal. Thiscomplexity was created by: the number of lenders, the involvement of exportcredit agencies, the location of the project in Mozambique, the fact thattitanium minerals aren't a hedged commodity and hence market risk cannot behedged, and finally, Kenmare's size related to the size of the transaction. Speaking at the Awards Kenmare Resources Managing Director Michael Carvill said"We are really pleased that this project has been recognised by the broaderproject finance community. The financing and loan agreements put in place inmid-2004 represented the culmination of years of work. Working on a non-tradedcommodity like Titanium Minerals made it particularly challenging as bankscannot hedge risk by selling forward. We were particularly pleased with ourequity raising which was effectively 1:1 given that our market cap at the timewas in the region of US$100 million". Kenmare worked with NM Rothschild on thisdeal and were nominated for the award by their international lenders, KfW,African Development Bank, FMO, Absa, the European Investment Bank and EmergingAfrican Infrastructure Fund. Kenmare began construction of the Moma mine in October 2004 and is on track tobegin production in late 2006. It is expected that the mine will produce morethan 650,000 tonnes of Titanium Minerals annually. Sales contracts for more than57% of the first five years of planned output have already been signed. Project Finance is an international monthly magazine providing news and analysison project and infrastructure finance for sectors including telecoms, power,oil, gas, rail, property, PPPs and mining. For further information: Kenmare Resources Michael Carvill, Managing Director Tel: +353-1-671 0411 Mob: +353-87-6740110 Murray Consultants Elizabeth Headon Tel: +353-1-498 0300 Mob: +353 87 989 7234 Conduit PR Ltd Leesa Peters/Amanda Harris Tel:+44-207-618 8760 Mob: +44 781 215 9885 10 March, 2005 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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