23rd May 2005 08:07
Petra Diamonds Ld23 May 2005 23 May 2005 Petra Diamonds Limited Proposed Merger with Crown Diamonds NL Petra Diamonds Limited (LSE: PDL), the AIM-quoted diamond mining group, wishesto bring to the attention of its shareholders an ASX announcement that was madetoday by Crown Diamonds NL ('Crown') (ASX: CRD). The text of the Crownannouncement is reproduced below. ******************************************************************************** Crown Diamonds NL (ACN: 050 541332) ASX Announcement - released 23 May 2005 Crown Board confirms Merger Recommendation The Board of Crown Diamonds NL ("Crown" or "the Company") advises all Crownshareholders and convertible note holders that its Directors reaffirm theirrecommendation that shareholders and convertible note holders vote in favour ofthe merger with Petra Diamonds Limited ("Petra"), by way of the Schemes ofArrangement detailed in the Schemes Booklet dated 20 April 2005. The Board of Crown notes that since the date of the announcement of the mergeron 8 February 2005 stock market conditions in the resource sector have changedand the share prices of many companies, including both Petra and Crown, havefallen. Notwithstanding the changed market conditions and the adjustment in the shareprices of both companies, the Crown Board maintains its belief that the proposedmerger of Crown with Petra is still in the best interests of Crown shareholdersand convertible note holders, and reaffirms its recommendation that shareholdersand convertible note holders vote in favour of the proposed merger. A capital raising for the merged group has been undertaken by Williams de BroePlc (AIM Nominated Adviser and Broker to Petra), to place 20,084,352 new Petrashares with institutional investors raising £17.1 million (A$40 million)(before costs). Completion of this placement is conditional on completion of themerger (with reference to the conditions as set out in Section 2 and 3 of theScheme Booklet). The Board expects this capital raising to be completed on oraround 17 June 2005. The Crown Board has no reason to believe that the conditions relating to thecompletion of the merger will not be satisfied. By Order of the Board Crown Diamonds NL ******************************************************************************** For further information, please contact: David Abery Cathy Malins / Annabel Leather Petra Diamonds, South African office Parkgreen Communications, London Tel: +27 11 467 6710 Tel: +44 20 7493 3713 Frank H. Moxon Williams de Broe Plc, London Karl Paganin / Michael Soucik Tel: +44 20 7588 7511 Euroz Securities, Perth Tel: +61 8 9488 1430 In South Africa: In Australia: Johan Dippenaar ACN: 050 541 332 CEO and Director John Baillie Crown Diamonds NL Company Secretary and Director Tel: +27 14 544 6116 Crown Diamonds NL Tele: +61 8 9381 8888 Fax: +61 8 9381 8333 Kevin Skinner Field Public Relations Tel: +61 8 8234 9555 Mobile: +61 414 822 631 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Petra Diamonds