28 May 2008 09:01
Caspian Holdings Plc
("Caspian" or the "Company")
28 May 2008
Caspian Completes £200,000 Placement
Serri Pine Meadows Lease Confirmed
Caspian Holdings has progressed its expansion in the United States confirming clear title on the Serri Pine Meadows lease in California. The Company will now proceed forward to complete lease acquisition and geological and geophysical studies.
In order to fund the lease acquisition, the geological work and the ongoing management of Zhengeldy in Kazakhstan the Company has completed a placement of 10 million ordinary shares at 2p per share to raise £200,000 to Masterman Superannuation Fund ("MSF"), a pension fund associated with Michael Masterman.
Application will be made for the new ordinary shares to be admitted to AIM which is expected to occur on 3 June 2008.
Related Party Transaction
Masterman Superannuation Fund, a company related to Michael Masterman, a director of Caspian, and of which Michael Masterman is a beneficiary and trustee, is participating in the placement to the amount of £200,000 and will therefore will be issued 10,000,000 ordinary shares. The share issue to MSF is therefore classified as a related party transaction for the purposes of the AIM Rules. Accordingly the Directors (other than Michael Masterman), having consulted with Grant Thornton Corporate Finance (in its capacity as the Company's nominated adviser), confirm that they are satisfied that the terms of MSF's participation in the placement are fair and reasonable insofar as the shareholders of the Company are concerned.
Following this transaction, Michael Masterman will be interested in 21,900,000 ordinary shares in the Company representing an interest of 20.14% in the total voting rights of the Company. In addition, Michael Masterman is interested in 6,250,000 options over ordinary shares in the Company as follows:
Stock Options Held Option Exercise Price Expiry Date
5,000,000 £0.04 31 December 2010
1,250,000 £0.03 31 December 2010
Enquiries:
Caspian Holdings Plc Grant Thornton Corporate Finance
Michael Masterman Fiona Owen
T: +44 (0) 7791 288381 T: +44 (0) 20 7383 5100
www.caspianoil.co.uk
Hoodless Brennan Parkgreen Communications
Luke Cairns Ana Ribeiro / Justine Howarth
T: +44 (0) 20 7538 1166 T: +44 (0) 20 7851 7480