LONDON (Alliance News) - ITE Group PLC on Monday said that GPP Energy Advisors Ltd exercised an option allowing it to sell half of its 49.9% stake in Africa Oil Week Ltd to ITE. Shares in ITE will be issued to GPP, which plans to sell them to institutional investors.
The put option was agreed when ITE moved to acquire 50.1% of Africa Oil Week, an oil and gas conference and exhibition held in the Cape Town Exhibition and Convention Centre, from in March 2015.
Under that agreement, put and call options were put in place over ten years, allowing ITE to acquire the shares it didn't own in Africa Oil Week from GPP, with the overall payment to be capped at a maximum of GBP50 million.
GPP's move to exercise the option means ITE will issue 4.7 million new shares to the minority shareholder in Africa Oil Week. The put option allows GPP to sell half of its remaining shareholding in Africa Oil Week to ITE.
GPP intends to sell those ITE shares in an accelerated bookbuild run by Numis Securities Ltd, ITE said in a statement.
Shares that aren't sold in the bookbuild placing will be subject to a 30-day lock-up, during which GPP won't be able to sell them.
ITE shares closed down 0.9% at 136.50 pence on Monday. At that price, the shares issued to GPP would be valued at roughly GBP6.4 million.
The price at which Numis is able to sell the shares in ITE on behalf of GPP will be announced following the bookbuild.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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