9 Feb 2015 07:01
9th February 2015
Amerisur Resources Plc ("Amerisur" or the "Company")
Grant of Share Options
Amerisur Resources Plc ("Amerisur" or the "Company"), the oil and gas producer and explorer focused on South America, announces that on 7th February 2015 the Company's Remuneration Committee ("the Committee"), which consists of Stephen Foss, (Chairperson), Douglas Ellenor and George Woodcock, granted options to operational staff over 6,000,000 and directors over 25,480,000 new ordinary shares of 0.1p each, exercised at par value, representing 2.96 per cent of the current issued share capital under the Long Term Incentive Plan ("LTIP") adopted in 2011. The Committee designed the LTIP in accordance with current best practice and with the intention of delivering appropriate awards to staff and senior management on the delivery of exceptional corporate performance.
The options in the Share Price Growth column in the below table are five year options with a three year vesting period. They will vest when certain performance criteria have been met - 50% when a 33% growth in the share price has been achieved within three years (10% per annum compound), a further 25% on a 52% increase (15% per annum compound) over three years and the final 25% on a 73% increase (20% per annum compound) over three years. The share price target must also be held for 30 calendar days. The base price for the share price growth is 37.22p being the average of closing price for the 30 calendar days prior to grant.
The options in the Pipeline column in the below table are five year options with a three year vesting period and relate to the successful installation of the pipelineand commencement of operations. The vesting of the pipeline options will be determined by the Remuneration Committee's assessment of the results of the commissioning and operations of the pipeline.
There was no consideration paid upon the grant of the options and the options expire on the fifth anniversary of the grant. 6,000,000 options have been awarded to operational staff and 25,480,000 options have been granted to Directors as follows:
Name / Vesting | Share Price Growth | Pipeline | Total | Total options following this grant |
John Wardle | 6,370,000 | 6,370,000 | 12,740,000 | 27,740,000 |
Giles Clarke | 3,640,000 | 3,640,000 | 7,280,000 | 14,580,000 |
Nick Harrison | 2,730,000 | 2,730,000 | 5,460,000 | 12,760,000 |
Total | 12,740,000 | 12,740,000 | 25,480,000 | 55,080,000 |
Stephen Foss, Senior Independent non-executive Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee said:
"Today's grant of options is within the Company's LTIP scheme that was adopted in 2011. In designing the scheme, the Company, with the help of external consultants, carefully examined performance and undertook a benchmarking exercise.
"The Remuneration Committee has set very specific and challenging targets which, if met, will align management with shareholder interests. The delivery of the cross border pipeline is, in particular, of strategic importance to Amerisur and the Putumayo region as a whole."
Ends
ENQUIRIES:
Stephen Foss Amerisur
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Billy Clegg/Georgia Mann | Tel: +44(0)203 757 4980 |
Camarco | |
Jeremy Low/Daniel Conti |
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RBC Capital Markets
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Chris Sim | Tel: +44 (0)207 597 4000 |
Investec |