ZOL.L Regulatory News (ZOL)

1 Feb 2005 07:34

Crosby Capital Partners Inc01 February 2005 1 February 2005 Crosby Capital Partners Inc. Interest in Lodore Resources Crosby Capital Partners Inc. ("Crosby" or "the Company") announced on 14December 2004 that its 100% owned subsidiary, Sunov Crosby (Holdings) Limited ("SC Holdings"), had entered into a sale and purchase agreement to sell its 61%interest in Sunov Petroleum Limited ("Sunov") to AIM-quoted Lodore ResourcesInc. ("Lodore"). The Company is now pleased to announce that Lodore's enlargedissued share capital was admitted to trading on AIM yesterday morning andaccordingly the sale of Sunov to Lodore has been completed. In conjunction with the sale of Sunov to Lodore, 70,000,000 ordinary shares of0.125p each in the share capital of Lodore ("Lodore Shares") owned by SCHoldings and other minority shareholders of Sunov have been placed by Crosby ata price of 14.75p per share with new investors raising a gross amount of£10,325,000. After taking into account various fees and expenses related to thetransaction, as well as minority interests, the Directors of Crosby expect thatthe proceeds receivable by SC Holdings will be approximately £5 million. SC Holdings continues to hold 214,666,667 Lodore Shares which are subject tolock-in arrangements, which may be released on the occurrence of certain events,for a period of up to 2 years from 31 January 2005. Commenting on the transaction, Simon Fry, CEO of Crosby stated: "The sale ofSunov to Lodore is a pleasing development in the continuing progress of ourMerchant Banking business. Monetising some of our interests will further helpour investors to realise the scope of the value that has been created in justone of our more recent transactions. Crosby retains a significant interest inLodore and will continue to work closely with Lodore and its directors in orderto assist it with its growth in the oil and gas EDP sector". He added "Crosby also continues to hold interests in oil and gas properties inPakistan and the Middle East that were acquired through Sunov, and the directorsare hopeful that these assets will also be monetised in the near future". Crosby intends to apply the cash proceeds received to date from this realisationto the on-going development of the Crosby's business' and general workingcapital purposes. For further information please contact: Simon Fry, Chief Executive Officer in London on +44 (0)207 590 2800 Ilyas Khan, Managing Director in Hong Kong on +852 2169 2800 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange