African Eagle Resources Regulatory News (AFE)

31 Jul 2007 10:59

African Eagle Resources PLC31 July 2007 AFRICAN EAGLE ANNOUNCES £7.4 MILLION CAPITAL RAISING IN SOUTH AFRICA AND CONFIRMS INTENTION TO LIST ON THE JSE ALTX * Irrevocable commitments for £7.4 million (ZAR 104 million) share placing * Listing on JSE ALTX scheduled for mid-August African Eagle plc ("the Company"; Ticker "AFE") confirms that it is to seek alisting on ALTX, the alternative investment market of JSE Limited (JSE), theJohannesburg, South Africa, Stock Exchange. Ahead of the listing, which isscheduled for mid-August 2007, the Company has received commitments toparticipate in a share placing to raise capital of £7,408,054 (104,231,315 SouthAfrican Rand). African Eagle's Managing Director Mark Parker commented today: "Our debut onALTX will provide the Company with access to an investor base which has aunique, long-standing knowledge of, and exposure to, the mineral resourcessector. South African investors also have a deep understanding of the rewardsand risks associated with mining and investment on the African continent.African Eagle will be one of the first resources companies with assets outsideSouth Africa to list on ALTX. "Following recent relaxations of exchange control regulations by the ReserveBank, South African funds and individuals are now able to invest more widelyinto companies and projects in other African countries" added Parker. "Inaddition, the Africa Emerging Markets funds of a number of European and NorthAmerican institutions are now managed from South Africa. The response to AfricanEagle's strategy and business model from these investors has been excellent. "This is African Eagle's largest single capital raising. It will give theCompany the financial muscle to advance its projects and to pursue its aim ofholding significant participating interests in (and earning revenue from)several mining operations, starting with the Mkushi Copper Mines Project inZambia, the Company's nearest term production project. A decision on whether andhow to develop a mine at Mkushi will be made during the second half of nextyear."African Eagle has positioned itself as a diversified mineral explorer, pursuinga strategy of acquiring and exploring promising mineral properties in Eastern &Southern Africa. Once it has demonstrated the value of an asset, usually bydelineating an indicated or inferred resource, the Company aims to take theproject into production with a suitable development partner which has theappropriate engineering and mining skills and capital, while itself retaining asignificant participating equity. "This approach allows African Eagle to maintain a diverse project portfolio interms of commodities and locations, to offset the risk that any one project willnot succeed. It also minimises the need for the Company to raise capital in themarket and permits it to focus on what it does best - project acquisition andexploration. "While joint venture agreements ensure that Mkushi and Ndola in Zambia andMiyabi in Tanzania are fully funded to completion of a feasibility study,African Eagle holds many earlier stage projects outright and the funds nowraised will allow us to advance these. Dutwa and Igurubi (gold), and Eagle Eye,Kampumba and Mokambo (copper) are promising projects in this category, while theCompany's recently announced uranium portfolio will also be a high priority". African Eagle's South African investment bank, corporate adviser and ALTXSponsor, Nedbank Capital, has advised the Company that it has receivedirrevocable applications from South African investors to subscribe for45,457,310 African Eagle shares at a price per share of 1.95 South African Rand(ZAR), for a total of ZAR 88,641,755. In addition, JP Morgan Fleming NaturalResources Fund, a long-standing existing shareholder in the UK, is subscribingfor 8,000,000 shares at the sterling equivalent of R1.95, bringing the totalcapital to be raised to ZAR 104,231,315 or £7,408,054. The Company's ALTX listing is expected to take place on or about 24th August,under the JSE's fast track procedure for AIM listed companies. The JSE ALTXCommittee has approved African Eagle's request to apply for a listing, and acomprehensive Pre-Listing Statement, including the Company's recent accounts anda technical Competent Person's Report, has been submitted to the JSE to bechecked for compliance with the Listing Requirements. The listing is subject tothe Company obtaining of the requisite South African Exchange Control approvals. African Eagle's ALTX Sponsor for the listing is Nedbank Capital, a division ofNedbank Limited, a leading South African bank which has dynamic corporatefinance and investment arms. Following completion of the placing, which will take place on African Eagle'sadmission to ALTX, the Company's total issued share capital will be 207,491,454ordinary shares of one penny each ("Ordinary Shares"). The following will holdmore than 3% of the Company's issued share capital: Holder Shares Percent RAB Capital (Special Situations Master Fund) 36,522,778 17.60Stanlib Funds 30,256,410 14.58JP Morgan Fleming funds 19,977,361 9.63Peregrine Capital funds 8,765,000 4.22Merck, Finck & Co 6,752,300 3.25Directors of the Company 10,133,855 4.88 John ParkChairmanAfrican Eagle Resources plc 31 July, 2007 For further information, see the Company's web site www.africaneagle.co.uk orcontact one of the following: Mark ParkerManaging Director+44 20 7248 6059+44 77 5640 6899 Ed Portman/ Leesa PetersConduit PR+44 20 7429 6607 / +44 (0) 7733 635 01 About African Eagle African Eagle is a diversified mineral exploration and development companyoperating in eastern and central Africa. The Company's principal advancedprojects are the Mkushi Copper Mines project in Zambia and the Miyabi goldproject in Tanzania, which are being fast-tracking towards production. TheCompany also holds a large well-balanced portfolio of promising earlier stagegold and base metal projects, including the Ndola copper project and the EagleEye iron-oxide copper gold project. Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique, the sites of African Eagle's projects, are allcountries which have highly prospective geology, relatively low above-groundrisks and track records of successful major investments in the metals andminerals industries. African Eagle specialises in project generation and exploration. To take itsdiscoveries into production, it seeks to sign up industry partners with recordsof successful mine development. These joint ventures and, in time, the revenuefrom advanced projects, will finance future exploration and new discoveries. The Company has a highly motivated team, proven management and an experiencedboard. African Eagle prides itself on being a low cost operator and on average80p or more of every £1 is spent "in the ground". This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange