IRF.L Regulatory News (IRF)

27 Apr 2007 08:46

IRF European Fin Investments Ltd 27 April 2007 IRF European Finance Investments Ltd 27 April 2007 IRF European Finance Investments Ltd. Announces Successful Conclusion of its Warrant Offer IRF European Finance Investments Ltd. ("IRF" or the "Company") is pleased toannounce that its offer ("Offer") for the early exercise of the Company'swarrants ("Warrants") closed successfully upon its expiration on 26 April 2007at 5:00 p.m., London time. The preliminary results of the Offer are that --28,188,810 Warrants (64.9% ofthe Warrants outstanding) were exercised, of which 12,759,340 Warrants wereexercised by payment of the $5.00 exercise price and 15,429,470 Warrants wereexercised by exchange of Warrants. As a result of these exercises: $63,796,700 of gross cash proceeds will be raised; and 17,074,576 new shares of common shares ("Common Shares") will be issued. Following the issuance of the Common Shares relating to the Warrant exercise,IRF expects to have in issue and outstanding: 131,070,073 shares of Common Shares; and 15,263,196 Warrants. Application will be made in due course for the new Common Shares to be admittedto trading on AIM. The remaining Warrants will expire in accordance with their terms on the earlierof redemption or 14 November 2009. Angeliki Frangou, IRF's Chairman stated "I am pleased with the investor responseto both the private and public warrant program. As the net result, we haveraised significant additional capital and removed an impediment to IRF's furtherdevelopment. Today, outstanding warrants represent approximately 11.6% of IRF'scommon shares, as opposed to approximately 161.2% of IRF's common shares beforeboth warrant programs commenced." Questions regarding the completed offer may be directed to Morrow & Co., Inc.,the Company's Information Agent, which can be reached as follows: Email: irfinfo@morrowco.com London: 1 Queen Anne's Gate, London SW1H 9BT +44 (207) 222-4645 US: 470 West Avenue, Stamford CT 06902 +1 (203) 658-9400 This news release is merely a notification of the results of the offer and isneither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.The offer was made only pursuant to an offer letter dated 28 April 2007 andrelated materials. About IRF IRF was formed to invest in the financial services industry throughout Europewith a primary focus on credit institutions and insurance companies in SouthEastern Europe. IRF's current strategy is the acquisition of financialinstitutions having valuations which do not reflect their potential and wheremarketing and operational efficiencies are possible. IRF owns a 20.16% interestin Proton Bank S.A.("Proton") and a 5.36% interest in Marfin Popular Bank("MPB"). Proton is a full service financial services institution, including retail andinvestment banking as well the provision of specialized corporate advisory andinvestment services. Proton is listed on the Athens Shares Exchange under thesymbol 'PRO'. For more information about Proton, please see www.proton.gr. MPBis full-services financial institution that was created through the recentmerger of Marfin Financial Group, Laiki Hellas and Egnatia Bank. As a result,MPB is a regional financial institution with 312 branches in 12 countries. MPBis listed on the Athens Shares Exchange under the symbol 'MARFB'. For moreinformation about MPB, please see www.laiki.com. Enquiries of the Company may be made to the Company's Nominated Adviser, Collins Stewart Europe Limited, attn: Seema Paterson (+44 207 523 8321). This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange