Placing of Shares

5 Mar 2007 10:59

Melrose Resources PLC05 March 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5 March 2007 MELROSE RESOURCES PLC ("Melrose" or "the Company") Placing to raise £26.95 million ("the Placing") Melrose Resources plc (LSE: MRS) announces that 7,000,000 new ordinary shares of10p each ("the Placing Shares") have been placed, conditional, inter alia, onUKLA related party approval, at a price of 385 pence per share. The net proceedsof the Placing of approximately £26.5 million, will be used: • for continuing exploration and development expenditure in Egypt; • to allow medium term retention and exploration of the Company's East Texas assets; and • to provide flexibility for the Company's forthcoming drilling programme in Bulgaria. The Placing Shares, which will rank pari passu in all respects with theCompany's existing ordinary shares, represent approximately 6.8% of the currentissued share capital of the Company. Application will be made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to the OfficialList of the UK Listing Authority ("the Official List") and to trading on theLondon Stock Exchange's market for listed securities (together, "Admission").The Placing is conditional, inter alia, upon Admission, which is expected tobecome effective and dealings in the Placing Shares to commence at 8.00 a.m. on9 March 2007. Robert Adair, Executive Chairman, and Caledonia Investments plc participated inthe Placing approximately pro rata to their shareholdings in the Company.Details of their respective shareholdings immediately following the Placing areset out below: Shares acquired Resulting holding Resulting % R F M Adair (1) 3,624,353 56,795,882 51.8%Caledonia Investments plc (2) 621,000 9,731,472 8.9% Notes: (1) The interests of R F M Adair include 56,035,376 ordinary sharesheld by Skye Investments Limited, a company in which he has a controllinginterest; (2) Caledonia Investments plc is represented on the Board of theCompany by William Wyatt; (3) Following the Placing, the Company will have 109,694,379 ordinaryshares in issue. Commenting on the Placing, Robert Adair, Executive Chairman, said: "We are pleased that our major institutional shareholders have supported thisfundraising, which will provide us with additional flexibility in our financingarrangements during this exciting time in the Company's development." For further information please contact: Melrose Resources plc 0131 221 3360Robert Adair, Executive ChairmanMunro Sutherland, Finance Director Oriel Securities Limited 020 7710 7600David ArchMichael Shaw Bell Lawrie 0141 221 7733Jamie Cumming Buchanan Communications Limited 020 7466 5000Tim ThompsonBen Willey or visit www.melroseresources.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange