25th May 2005 09:52
Petra Diamonds Ld25 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 25 May 2005 CROWN DIAMONDS SHAREHOLDERS VOTE 'YES' TO MERGER WITH LONDON-LISTED PETRA Shareholders in listed Australian diamond producer, Crown Diamonds NL (ASX code:"CRD") have today overwhelmingly voted "yes" to the merger with London-quotedPetra Diamonds Limited (LSE code: "PDL"). The vote will now be put to a meeting in London of Petra shareholders at 10amLondon time today (7.00 pm EST Australia tonight). If the merger plan is alsoadopted by the Petra meeting, a new mid-tier diamond explorer and producer willbe created. "The endorsement by Crown shareholders at today's Perth meeting is a historicvote of support for an opportunity to participate in the substantial upside inthe global diamond market," Crown's Chief Executive Officer, Mr Johan Dippenaar,said today. Mr Dippenaar is scheduled to take over as CEO and Executive Director of theenlarged group, to be called Petra Diamonds, and which will own producingdiamond mines in South Africa, major exploration rights in Angola through a BHPBilliton joint venture and participate in a joint venture with Mano RiverResources in Sierra Leone. "Final approval will see Crown move from being a sole diamond producer with fewexploration opportunities to being part of a larger company with the greaterfinancial and exploration muscle needed to precipitate share value and assetgrowth and attract new projects," Mr Dippenaar said. "There will be an opportunity to continue to invest in Petra as the stock willbe listed on both the Australian Stock Exchange (subject to final approval) andLondon's Alternative Investment Market. This will help deliver greater tradingfluidity and value for investments held by our current Crown shareholders." Dual listing approval will crystallise a UK-led A$40 million cash injection intothe enlarged Petra Diamonds Completion of the capital raising, undertaken byPetra's broker, Williams de Broe Plc, was subject to the merger going ahead,with the funds being available to Petra around 17 June, 2005. Conditional on tonight's voting in London, the merger will see Petra acquire theentire 302 million ordinary share capital of Crown under an all-share Scheme ofArrangement with each Crown shareholder receiving one Petra share for everyeight Crown shares. Holders of Convertible Loan Notes in Crown, representing about A$3 million ofASX-listed notes or approximately 17 million Crown shares if converted, alsovoted today to support the merger. The Schemes of Arrangements voted on in Perth today are subject to approval bythe Supreme Court of Western Australia. The court date to consider suchapproval is set for 31 May 2005. 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:
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