5th Apr 2005 10:30
Peter Hambro Mining PLC05 April 2005 US$15 million IFC Equity Investment in Peter Hambro Mining 5 April 2005 Peter Hambro Mining Plc ("PHM") is pleased to announce that the InternationalFinance Corporation ("IFC") is investing US$15m by subscribing for 1,448,545 newPHM shares and has been granted an option to apply for a matching amount ofadditional new shares. The proposed investment was announced in December 2004,subject to further due diligence and approval by the IFC's Board. Due diligence,including an environmental and social audit of PHM's operations to thesatisfaction of World Bank Group requirements, has been completed and the IFCBoard has approved the investment. Investment The new shares will rank pari passu with all existing ordinary shares and arebeing issued at a price of £5.50 (the "Investment Price"). The Investment Pricewas fixed at the time of the original agreement in December 2004 and was at a 3%premium to the closing price of the day previous to the signing of thatagreement. The option exercise price is at a 25% premium to the Investment Price (subjectto an anti-dilution adjustment). Full exercise of the option would result in theissue of 1,448,545 additional new PHM shares. PHM will be able to require theIFC to exercise the option early if the PHM shares trade for 20 consecutivetrading dates at a 60% premium to the option exercise price in the two yearsfollowing the issue or at a 30% premium (on this basis) to this price after twoyears. Unless exercised earlier, the option will lapse on 4th April 2013. IFChas provided PHM with a commitment of funds and on receipt of funds will beissued the initial 1,448,545 shares. Application will be made for these sharesto be admitted to trading on AIM shortly thereafter. The IFC is the private sector arm of The World Bank Group. The IFC is asubstantial provider of project and private sector finance across the developingworld, with a significant involvement in Russia across all sectors, includinggold mining. Peter Hambro, Executive Chairman, said: - "I am delighted that the IFC is investing in PHM. It is a significantendorsement of our corporate strategy and operational organisation. We havealways had a stated objective to operate to World Bank Group policies andguidelines and it is satisfying to see this effort being acknowledged andrewarded. We continue the development of both the Pokrovskiy and Pioneer projects andintend to report on their progress during the second quarter of 2005. Wecontinue to talk with the IFC and a number of other project finance banks withregard to debt financing the development costs. I believe that IFC's investmentis a great vote of confidence in the strength of the projects." Christopher Goss, Principal Investment Officer, the International FinanceCorporation, said: - "We see this investment as the first step in what we hope will be a long termand broad relationship with PHM, as it now begins to develop its veryinteresting range of properties. We look forward to supporting it in its growthand development in the coming months and years into an important company in thegold industry and a path breaker in terms of combining the best of Russian andinternational operational methods to achieve their individual form of bestpractice, both in production and cost efficiency and in environmental managementand social practices." Enquiries: Alya Samokhvalova +44 (0) 20 7201 8900Director of External CommunicationsPeter Hambro Mining Tom Randell / Maria Suleymanova +44 (0) 20 7653 6620Merlin This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
POG.L