Member Info for daniscp1906

The Share Buyback Scheme:Share buybacks are permitted under Part 18 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006), but must be funded from distributable profits (or fresh share capital in limited cases) and approved by shareholders (special resolution for off-market buybacks). AIM Rules (via London Stock Exchange) require timely disclosure of buyback intentions and ensure they don't disrupt orderly markets.

However, offering a buyback for exactly 49% of shares (effectively targeting minority holders to consolidate the 51% majority) at a mere 10% premium to a manipulated price raises red flags. Directors must act in the company's best interests (s172 CA 2006) and avoid unfairly prejudicing minorities. If the "premium" still undervalues shares based on true market value, this could breach fiduciary duties, making directors personally liable.

For AIM companies, while less stringent than the Main Market, buybacks must still comply with MAR and can't be used to circumvent fair treatment. Forced sales in buybacks are rare without court approval, and minorities can challenge if it amounts to a squeeze-out without proper valuation.

In summary, the manipulation alone makes this illegal, and the buyback would likely fail scrutiny as unfair. The FCA could halt it via enforcement, and courts have struck down similar schemes in past cases.

A shareholder owns 51% of a company listed on the AIM. Over the past few weeks, it has purposely depressed the share price, and now the company has announced it will launch a share buyback scheme for 49% of the company at a 10% premium to the artificially depressed share price. Is this legal?

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No, this scheme is highly unlikely to be legal under UK law, primarily due to the deliberate depression of the share price, which constitutes market manipulation—a serious breach of the UK's Market Abuse Regulation (UK MAR). Even if the buyback itself complies with procedural rules, basing it on an artificially low price would likely render the entire transaction unfair and potentially challengeable as a breach of directors' fiduciary duties.Key Legal IssuesMarket Manipulation (Depressing the Share Price):Under UK MAR (retained EU law post-Brexit), market manipulation includes any transaction or order that gives false or misleading signals about the supply, demand, or price of a financial instrument, or secures an illegitimate advantage. Intentionally depressing a share price through actions like coordinated selling, spreading negative rumors, or artificial trading to create downward pressure falls squarely into this category. This is a civil offence, with attempted manipulation also prohibited, and can escalate to criminal charges under sections 89-91 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2012 (FSMA 2012).

For AIM-listed companies (which are regulated markets under FCA oversight), the same rules apply—no lighter touch for AIM despite its focus on smaller growth companies. The FCA actively monitors for such abuse using tools like abnormal trading volume analysis and suspicious transaction reports (STORs). Consequences include unlimited fines, injunctions, trading bans, or up to 10 years' imprisonment for criminal cases.

Evidence of intent (e.g., patterns of trading over "the past few weeks") would be key; if proven, it could invalidate any subsequent buyback pricing.

Good start from the MMs, faking a numbers of sales at 5.5p of 3 shares each.

Ok its more like an attempted MBO, using the cash the company holds to buy all the minority shareholders out. Probably couldn’t offer more per share as they dont have the cash in the company to do so.

Delisting will need 75% shareholder approval, the Guptas own just over 50% so without the buyback that may not go through. With the buyback they are hoping shares get cancelled and their effective stake becomes closer to 75%.

Would love if someone exposes them by making a tender offer for the full thing.

are they taking the ****?

Looks like some people are giving up on the story or becoming patient? Down about 25% last 2 weeks with Copper up and spread today looks quite narrow as well.

Across all categories (Measured, Indicated and Inferred), ~800mt at ~0.3% Copper for 2.2m Tonnes of Copper. There's a bit of by-credits for Iron and very small for Gold. Probably on a Copper Equivalent it would be ~3.5m Tonnes of Copper Equivalent.

Cascabel as we know is Copper of ~12m Tonnes and Copper Equivalent (Gold by-credits) is ~18m Tonnes

Two M&A's in the Canada Exchange this morning, Loncor Gold and Canadian Gold.

Orion just bought a 25% stake in Capstone's Santo Domingo mine which is in development with a construction decision expected in H2 2026. They are paying up to $360m for a 25% stake, valuing the project at ~$1.5bn. NPV8 of the project is $1.7bn, Upfront Capex is $2.3bn. It's low-grade ~0.3% Copper, expected to produce ~70,000 Copper p.a. over a Life of Mine of ~20 Years. Quite a good datapoint to use to access the value of Cascabel or even just Tandayama.

Really interesting RNS. When I read the headline I was scared it was another 10 Year expiry as some warrants they issued a few months ago, this is quite bullish as others have said.

The most obvious indication that the financing will come and its a matter of when not if, was that Management introduced share price targets for their bonuses to be paid. They had no real incentive to do that and it is definitely not common to see in the junior mining space. They wouldnt have done it if they didnt think the project would be financed as it would have meant bonuses would never be paid out. Share price targets were also fairly stretching, 1.5p / 2.5p / 3.5p for each tranche. This is the “safe” upside management probably saw from a re-rate once this gets going in the near term

Now up 2000% in YTD. Raising $25m now at an implied Market Cap of 90m so at least we'll get paid once that closes.

Shame we didn't take the $1.25m due to us in shares. Would be worth multiples now...

Yeah most copper producers and quality developers were up 10% yesterday. Hopefully will take us back to 17p

Agreed. Something must be brewing. The other thing that is slightly odd is that in the last few months they've set up an Instagram Account, a Twitter account etc. All of which have constant streams of updates. That behaviour doesn't reconcile to their behaviour when it comes to reporting RNSs etc

Anyone else find it slightly bizarre that these guys are terrible at communicating, especially good news, but in this case they are quick off the mark as opposed to burying it in a trading update along with a gazillion of other things?

Surprised to see Solgold "quiet" today with gold surging

Halted

Unfortunate but its been 12 months and theres been no further reports so hopefully is resolved soon. OPG has listed bonds in India and those continue to be rated A- by S&P despite the investigation so thats a good seal of approval. Further my understanding is that the whole investigation is with regards to the OPG group, which has other operations in India, not just the OPG listed entity which owns the power station.

Seems like my message got caught in half.

There isn't a thermal coal player in India listed trading at below 10x EBITDA. OPG is stuck at 2x EBITDA. There's isnt a thermal coal player in India trading at below 1.0x Book Value. OPG is stuck at 0.2x. All valuation factors point to a massive undervaluation. Others are more diversified its true but should it trade at this discount? Of course not. This is primed for the Guptas (or even someone else) to take OPG private and then list in the Indian Stock Exchange.

There isn't a thermal coal player in India listed trading at below 10x EBITDA. OPG is stuck