Gordon Stein, CFO of CleanTech Lithium, explains why CTL acquired the 23 Laguna Verde licenses. Watch the video here.
I agree that it is boiling nicely, AGM will bring progress and structural changes. End of Q3 should see positive ,tangible & reportable action.
Just published in the Currency
Larry Goodman has upped his stake in Providence Resources. Why has the beef baron revealed his hand?
Larry Goodman is a discreet man. He invests quietly, avoids interviews, and most of his businesses are controlled offshore. Now, his holding company has bought a further 2.5% of Providence Resources, which meant he had to disclose his ownership.
7th Jul, 2021 - 3 min read
Providence Resources has broken its investors’ hearts. Since it was set up in 1998, it has lost £285 million. The worst part is that investors’ expectations have been continually raised and then dashed, as deal after deal to develop Providence’s oil has fallen through.
Why then is Larry Goodman suddenly showing an interest? And why is he doing so in public view? Goodman normally stays out of the limelight. But yesterday Vevan Unlimited Company, a company controlled by Goodman, bought over 2.5 per cent of Providence. The deal pushed Goodman’s holdings in Providence above the three per cent threshold, after which share dealing must be notified to the wider market. Goodman now owns 4.7 per cent of the company.
Goodman bought 26 million shares. They traded at a price of 3.6p, for a total of around £950,000. The 26 million shares make up 2.7 per cent of Providence’s share capital. In total, Vevan now owns 4.7 of the company. That makes him the fifth-biggest shareholder.
As reported by The Currency in April, Goodman has been building his stake in Providence for the last few months. In April, he spent a little over £300,000 to acquire just over one per cent of the company, though his position was not publicly disclosed at the time.
Why is Goodman moving now? Changes at the board level hint that more are coming. Two weeks ago, Pat Plunkett stepped down as Providence’s chairman, to be replaced by James Menton. Menton is the Chair of St Vincent’s Private Hospital, a rival of Goodman’s Blackrock Clinic.
Plunkett said: “Following the recent strategic decision by the board to take the management and financing of the Barryroe project in-house, this is an opportune time to hand over to new leadership.”
Goodman’s net worth has been estimated at €3.25 billion. So his £950,000 investment in Providence won’t make him much richer.
Goodman has timed his investments well recently. In 2018, again via Vevan, he spent €2.3 million buying a 2.1 per cent stake in Independent News and Media (INM), only to sell out last year for €3.1 million when INM was acquired by Mediahuis. He also did well from his €63 million investment in Green REIT, making €4 million when Green REIT was acquired in 2019.
If Goodman is buying Providence Shares, who’s selling? The rumour is that SpotOn, the Norwegian company that had acquired 2-3 per cent of Providence as part of the plan to develop the Barryroe field, is the seller. Given that the deal to develop Barryroe collapsed, SpotOn would have little reason to hold the shares. Ask by The Currency whether it had sold its Provi
Billionaire Larry Goodman buying close to 5% of Providence Resources is a sign that there is action coming down the track
Vevan Unlimited Company owned by Larry Goodman now holding 4.66% of Providence is a strong vote of confidence. Hope to see more changes at AGM
They will have to declare if they are adding to a previous holding of 1%+ and if they are a Larry Goodman company
Mystery investors up stake in Providence Resources
Unidentified pair now in the top five shareholders of the oil and gas exploration company
Barry J Whyte - avatar
Barry J Whyte
Chief Feature Writer
@whytebarry
16th May, 2021
Mystery investors up stake in Providence Resources
The newly-increased holding puts the pair in the top five holders of shares in Providence as the company embarks on a major push to finally develop its Barryroe oil discovery.
An unknown pair of investors have boosted their stake in Providence Resources, the beleaguered Irish oil and gas exploration company.
The two investors, “S O’Driscoll and R O’Riordan”, now hold 4.12 per cent of the shares, having boosted that stake in a recent fundraising round by the company.
The newly-increased holding puts the pair in the top five holders of shares in Providence as the company embarks on a major push to finally develop its Barryroe oil discovery, off the south-west coast of Ireland.
There has been speculation in recent months that “S O’Driscoll and R O’Riordan” are Sean O’Driscoll and his wife, Rose O’Riordan, who are seasoned investors through their investment vehicle Roaring Waters.
However, O’Driscoll, the former boss of Irish industrial giant Glen Dimplex, has denied that he is the S O’Driscoll in question. When contacted by this newspaper in August of last year, he said: “You’ve got the wrong man.”
Since then, he has declined to take any calls from the Business Post.
The Business Post asked Providence if it knew the identity of the shareholders. A spokesman for the company said: “Providence does not comment on individual shareholders.”
The current stake was increased as part of an ongoing fundraising drive by Providence as it attempts to raise money to explore its Barryroe asset off the coast of Cork.
Over the last few months, it has raised around £4 million from shareholders exercising warrants — effectively options for existing shareholders to buy shares at three pence a share. The warrants were issued last year to shareholders who contributed to a €3 million capital raise.
Meanwhile, the company is also planning to raise $5 million, of which $2.5 million will be underwritten by Pageant Holdings, an investment vehicle founded by Nick Furlong.
Last week, the company appointed James Menton as a senior independent non-executive director. Menton is a former partner with KPMG Ireland and a former chair of the board of St Vincent’s Healthcare Group.
Recruiting James Menton as senior director is both a strong vote of confidence and an excellent appointment.
As former lead of corporate finance with KPMG this skill set and network is paramount for progress at this point.
His ability to navigate government through his chairmanship of SVHG is a huge addition too.
The fact that he has accepted to join is a clear vote of confidence in the project as his non executive activity is with successive companies.
Article from Irish publication The Currency
The beef baron Larry Goodman has been linked with buying a tranche of shares Providence Resources late last week.
About 10 million shares were bought using the stockbroker Davy on the behalf of a single buyer. The buyer is believed to be Goodman’s investment vehicle Vevan Unlimited. It is understood that itacquired the holding for about 3 pence a share late last week, costing the Louth businessman a little over £300,000.
This equates to just over 1 per cent of the company, well below the 3 per cent threshold where shareholders have to disclose their positions to the market.
Any price paid by Goodman for his shares in Providence is a drop in the ocean relative to the billionaire’s personal fortune.
He has a long history of opportunistic investment in the Irish stock market, and his investment is not seen as meaning anything more than he sees potential value in the stock.
For many decades, Goodman has been an active trader in the Irish market often at a below notifiable level. In 2018, for example, he used Vevan to build up a 2.14 per cent stake in Independent News & Media. The average price paid by Goodman for INM shares was just 7.8 cent and he spent €2.31 million building up his position.
Goodman made a gross profit of €800,000 when his stake was taken out at a cost of €3.11 million when European media investor Mediahuis acquired the company.
Another successful foray by Vevan was Green REIT, where it build up a 5 per cent stake in the business at a cost of €63 million. Goodman is estimated to have made a gross profit of €4 million when Green REIT was acquired in 2019.
The arrival of Larry Goodman onto the share register of Providence will add another interesting twist to the exploration stock which saw its share price fall last week when it told the stock market that it had ended a farm-out arrangement with a Norwegian consortium called SpotOn in order to develop its Barryroe find without them.
The largest shareholder in the company is Irish businessman Nick Furlong who holds 14.93 per cent of the company in his own name and via his company Pageant Holdings. M&G Investment Management, a multibillion-euro fund, is the next biggest shareholder with 11.71 per cent.
Another shareholder of Irish interest is former Glen Dimplex boss Sean O’Driscoll. Along with his wife, he owns about 3.56 per cent of the company.
Knightsbridge-based Kite Lake Capital owns 9.75 per cent. Kite Lake was co-founded by Massi Khadjenouri and Jan Lernout who previously worked together at Cheyne Capital.
Kite Lake is one of the largest hedge fund managers in Europe co-founded by a woman. “A firm run by a woman has a different culture and a different perspective. We are very down to earth with our feet on the ground. Our culture is not conducive to creating ‘egos’,” Khadjenouri told The Hedge Fund Journal in a 2018 interview.
Lansdowne oil and gas plc hold 20%
My belief is that the coupon will be very attractive and repayment could be within months of first production, based on today’s oil price.
The trepidation I feel is being created by people who want to suck up cheap shares as this is a winner.
Amran I do not have a specific timeframe but I certainly expect it within Q1. The bond from issue will not take long to raise due to substantial interest and my information is that the issue of the bond by Pareto is imminent and there are suitors to subscribe ( I believe oversubscribe ) to the bond.
Correct - they do not need it right now but Pareto have insisted that they have one contracted as without one there will be nowhere for resources to go.
My information is that the bond is on target and the delay is contracting an fpso for Barryroe which Pareto have requested in recent weeks. This I believe is agreed in principle and contractual process is at an advanced stage.
Reading the articles in the Irish media in The Irish Times & The Irish Examiner their tone and headlines are not buying the company’s line on merger discussions. It seems that these discussions have taken place , are on hold until bond announced and are not “ presently” happening.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/companies/arid-40222835.html
The merger was not denied in the rns it was very carefully worded with the word “ presently” which aligns with the article which stated that “ a merger would only be considered “ when the finance is delivered. The fact that the company did not deny any involvement or approach is very pointed that this is indeed on the cards.
There is no smoke without fire.
I agree that it says a merger in the article but I strongly suspect that this will be a takeover considering the strong players who form spot on
There is an article on a potential takeover / merger between spot on & Providence in the Sunday Business Post.
I don’t hold stock in Providence but this looks very attractive as It mentions that SpotOn have acquired the Bentley field along with a number of other fields.
My belief is that this bond raise is already complete and it looks like this article is strategically “placed.”
This would propel the merged entity in to the upper end of European oil & gas with the volumes at Barryroe & Bentley alone.
SpotOn seem to be keeping a very low profile despite having secured equity backing from huge players.
https://www.businesspost.ie/companies/norwegian-firm-makes-merger-offer-to-providence-0f33759d
The videos @askaidreylike on twitter are even better