22 December 2021
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT
CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION
Pensana Plc
("Pensana" or the
“Company")
£10 million Placement to M&G
Investment Management (“M&G”)
Pensana announces that M&G, one of the UK’s largest and
long-standing fund managers, has agreed to invest £10.0 million in
the Company by way of a placement of 12,345,680 new ordinary shares
of £0.001 each in the capital of the Company (“Ordinary
Shares”)(the “Placing Shares”) at a price of 81 pence per share (the “Placing Price”).
Following the admission of the Placing Shares to trading M&G
will have an interest in approximately 5% of the Company’s enlarged
issued share capital.
M&G’s Head of UK Equities Michael
Stiasny commented:
“With this strategic investment, we look forward to supporting
Pensana in the future as they continue to develop an independent
and sustainable rare earth supply chain based in the UK, which is
essential as we move towards becoming a net zero economy.”
Pensana Chairman, Paul Atherley noted:
“We are delighted with the investment by M & G which comes
at an exciting time for the Company as we look to establish a world
class processing hub at Saltend chemical park in the UK’s Humber
Freeport, to meet the burgeoning demand from the Electric Vehicle
and Offshore Wind industries.”
Application has been made for the Placing Shares to be admitted
to the Official List (Standard Listing Segment) and to trading on
the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market for listed securities.
Admission is expected to occur on or about 8.00 a.m. on Thursday 6
January 2022 (“Admission”). The Placing Shares will rank
pari passu in all respects with each other and with the existing
Ordinary Shares, including, without limitation, the right to
receive all dividends and other distributions declared, made or
paid after the date of issue.
Following Admission, the Company’s issued share capital will
consist of 235,599,539 Ordinary Shares. No shares are held in
treasury and, therefore, the total number of voting rights of the
Company on Admission will be 235,599,539. This figure may be used
by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which
they will determine if they are required to notify their interest
in, or a change in their interest in, the Company under the
Financial Conduct Authority’s Disclosure Guidance and Transparency
Rules.
An Appendix 2A follows in relation to the securities issued
described above.
The information contained within this
announcement is considered by the Company to constitute inside
information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU)
No.596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement via a
Regulatory Information Service, this inside information will be
considered to be in the public domain. The person responsible for
arranging for the release of this announcement on behalf of the
Company is Paul Atherley
(Chairman).
ENDS
For further
information: |
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Pensana
Plc |
|
Website:
Paul Atherley, Chairman / Tim George, CEO
Finsbury Glover Hering:
Gordon Simpson
Syra Basra |
www.pensana.co.uk
contact@pensana.co.uk
020 7251 3801 |
|
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About Pensana
The electrification of motive power is the most important part
of the energy transition and one of the biggest energy transitions
in history. Magnet metals are central to the transition and
critical to high value manufacturing applications such as electric
vehicles and offshore wind turbines.
Pensana plans to establish Saltend as an independent,
sustainable supplier of the key magnet metal oxides to a market
which is currently dominated by China. The US$190
million Saltend facility is being designed to produce circa
12,500 tonnes per annum of rare earth oxides, of which 4,500 tonnes
will be neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr), representing over 5% of
the world market in 2025.
The Saltend facility is located within the world class Saltend
Chemicals Park, a cluster of leading chemicals and renewable energy
businesses at the heart of the UK’s energy estuary, and host to a
range of companies including BP Petrochemicals technology, INEOS,
Air Products, Triton Power, Nippon Gohsei and Tricoya.
Pensana’s plug and play facility will create over 500 jobs
during construction and over 125 direct jobs once in production. It
will be the first major separation facility to be established in
over a decade and will become one of only three major producers
located outside China.
Initial feedstock will be shipped as a clean, high purity mixed
rare earth sulphate (MRES) from the Company’s Longonjo low impact
mine in Angola. The open-cast
mine, state-of-the-art concentrator and proprietary MRES processing
plant are being designed by Wood to the highest international
standards. They will be powered by minimal carbon hydro-electric
power and connected to the Port of Lobito by the recently upgraded
Benguela railway line.
Pensana is of the view that provenance of critical rare earth
materials supply, life cycle analysis and GHG Scope 1, 2 and 3
emissions will all become significant factors in supply chains for
major customers. The Company intends to offer customers an
independently and sustainably sourced supply of the metal oxides
and carbonates of increasing importance to a range of applications
central to the energy transition, industrial, medical, military and
communications sectors.
For many miners around the world who are looking to access the
European and US supply chains, it is becoming increasingly clear
that the proposed EU and possible UK carbon border taxation would
mean that it is no longer acceptable for manufacturers to source
material extracted or processed unsustainably.
Pensana is aiming to establish Saltend as an attractive
alternative to mining houses who may otherwise be limited to
selling their products to China,
having designed the facility to be easily adapted to cater for a
range of rare earth feedstocks.