2nd Nov 2007 08:30
Gold Oil PLC02 November 2007 For immediate release 2 November 2007 Gold Oil plc ("Gold", or "The Company") Gold announces the disposal of its interest in Minmet plc On 2 October 2007, Minmet plc (Minmet) agreed to terminate the contractualarrangements relating to Gold's Cuban oil exploration interests (and the otherterritories) between Gold and Minmet leaving Gold free to pursue its planswithout the involvement of Minmet. The consideration is that Gold Oil plc will deposit 8,300,000 ordinary Minmetshares with a broker for the shares to be placed in the market and the proceedsdistributed to Minmet and Minmet will deposit 22,950,000 ordinary shares in Goldwith a broker for the shares to be placed in the market and the proceedsdistributed to Gold. Both sets of shares are subject to lock in arrangementsuntil February 2008, but such restriction may be lifted with the consent of theappropriate Nomad. The timing of the disposal of the Gold Oil shares will bedecided by Gold Oil. In a separate transaction, but spurred by the first, Westcoast Group Limited hasagreed to purchase 4,450,000 shares in Minmet from Gold Oil plc and 10,000,000ordinary Minmet shares from Gold Oil Caribbean Limited for a consideration of 18pence per share giving a total consideration of £2,601,000. Having no furtherinvestment interest in Minmet Michael Burchell and Gary Moore have each resignedfrom the Board of Minmet. Gary Moore, Gold's CEO, said: "When opportunities in the US were identified by Minmet, then clearly the US andCuba could not be pursued by the same company and this acted as a catalyst forthe companies to unwind the transactions agreed in February of this year. It wasnever our intention to sell out of Minmet this early, but with the recapture ofour Cuban exploration interests together with the rights over the otherterritories and realizing substantial proceeds out of the transaction in only 9months we decided this was too good an opportunity to miss. This makesadditional funds available for other opportunities that will ensure thecontinued growth of the Company without recourse to shareholders." Given the commonality of directorships, namely that Michael Burchell and GaryMoore directors of Gold are also non-executive directors of Minmet, inconjunction with the cross-holdings - being Gold's holding of 24.76% in Minmet,and Minmet's holding of 4.9% in Gold - the transaction is being treated as"related party" under the AIM Rules for Companies. Accordingly, Patrick Mahony,being the independent director, having consulted with the nominated adviser,considers that the terms of the transaction are fair and reasonable insofar asthe Company's shareholders are concerned. Trading in the Company's shares was suspended on 11 October 2007, pending theannouncement of this transaction. Accordingly Gold has requested that tradingresumes with immediate effect. For further information, please contact: Enquiries:Gary Moore CEO Tel: +44 (0)1737830133Email: [email protected] Mike Burchell Chairman Tel. +44 (0) 1372361772Email: [email protected] Roland Cornish Beaumont Cornish Limited Tel: 020 7628 3396. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
BOIL.L