IRC Limited: Partial Subscription by General Nice

30 April 2014

IRC Limited: Partial Subscription by General Nice and General Nice Further Subscription Update

Further to the Circular issued by Petropavlovsk PLC ("Petropavlovsk" or the "Company") on 18 February 2013 and previous announcements by IRC Limited ("IRC") and the Company, Petropavlovsk is pleased to confirm that IRC has today announced that it has received subscription monies of HK$155,000,000 (approximately US$20 million) from General Nice Development Limited ("General Nice") and, accordingly, has allotted and issued 165,000,000 new Shares (the ''Partial Further Subscription Shares'') to General Nice as a further partial subscription of General Nice Further Subscription Shares (the ''Partial Further Subscription'').

Accordingly, General Nice has already invested over 80% of its total commitments under the General Nice Subscription Agreement. Together with the 1,200,876,000 Shares already held by General Nice, as at the date of this announcement, General Nice holds, in aggregate, 1,365,876,000 Shares which represent approximately 28.10% of the total issued share capital of the Company, as enlarged by the Partial Further Subscription.

Further to discussions with General Nice and Mr Cai Sui Xin (the controlling shareholder and

Chairman of General Nice), the Company has been assured by General Nice that it will be able to

complete the remainder of the General Nice Further Subscription by payment to the Company of the remaining amount of HK$296,344,400 (approximately US$38.2 million, being HK$451,444,400

(approximately US$58.3 million) less HK$155,100,000 (approximately US$20 million)), on or before 25 June 2014.

Following the subscription of new shares in IRC by General Nice, the Company's shareholding in IRC reduced from 46.98% to 45.39%.

Commenting on the release, Peter Hambro, Chairman, said:

"I am very grateful to General Nice and to its chairman, Mr Cai Sui Xin for the very great efforts under difficult conditions that have been made in order to fulfil engagements in respect of the subscription for new shares in IRC. We look forward to a long and prosperous cooperation with new Chinese co-shareholders".

Further details may be found in the announcement of IRC Limited, available on its website www.ircgroup.com.hk 

IRC is a producer and developer of industrial commodities and was the Group's former Non-Precious Metals Division, prior to its listing on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (stock code 1029).

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