21 December 2022
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT
CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION
Pensana Plc
("Pensana" or the
"Company")
US$4 Million
Equity Placement to M & G Investment Management
Pensana announces that M&G Investment Management
(“M&G”), one of the UK’s largest fund managers and a long
standing Pensana shareholder, has agreed to invest US$4 million (£3.19 million) in the Company by
way of a placement of 7,250,000 new ordinary shares of £0.001 each
in the capital of Pensana (“Ordinary Shares”) (the “Placing
Shares”) at a price of 44 pence per
share (the “Placing Price”). Following admission of the Placing
Shares to trading M&G will have an interest in approximately
7.7% of the Company’s enlarged issued share capital.
Pensana Chairman, Paul Atherley noted:
“We very much appreciate M&G’s continuing support as a major
shareholder over the past 12 months. Initial site works are
underway at Saltend and Longonjo, and this additional investment
will take us through to main financing and the commencement of main
construction at both projects during Q1 of 2023. We look
forward to delivering on the strong support from major shareholders
and developing an independent and sustainable rare earth supply
chain based in the UK to meet the burgeoning demand from automotive
and wind turbine OEMs.”
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 5
January 2023 (“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 255,180,873 Ordinary Shares. No shares are held in
treasury and, therefore, the total number of voting rights of the
Company on Admission will be 255,180,873. 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.
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, please
contact:
Shareholder/analyst enquiries:
Pensana
Plc
Paul Atherley,
Chairman
IR@pensana.co.uk
Tim George, Chief Executive
Officer
Rob Kaplan, Chief Financial
Officer
George Zacharias, Group Company
Secretary
Media enquiries:
FGS Global:
Gordon Simpson / Richard
Crowley
Pensana-LON@fgsglobal.com
About Pensana Plc
The electrification of motive power is the most important part
of the energy transition if we are to tackle climate change and one
of the biggest energy transitions in history. Magnet metal rare
earths are central to that transition, forming a critical part of
the technology for efficient electric vehicle motors and offshore
wind turbines.
Pensana plans to establish its Saltend processing hub as an
independent and sustainable supplier of the key rare earth magnet
metal oxides to a market which is currently dominated by
China.
The US$195 million Saltend
facility is being designed to produce circa 12,500 tonnes per annum
of rare earth products, of which 4,500 tonnes will be neodymium and
praseodymium oxide (NdPrO), representing over 5% of the world
market in 2025.
Pensana’s plug-and-play facility is located within the
world-class Saltend Chemicals Park, a cluster of leading chemicals
and renewable energy businesses in the Humber Freeport and will
create over 500 jobs during construction and over 125 direct jobs
once in production.
Powered by low-carbon offshore wind, it will be the first major
separation facility to be established in over a decade and will
become one of the few major producers located outside China.
Feedstock will be shipped as a clean, high purity mixed rare
earth sulphate (MRES) from the Company’s Longonjo low-impact
operations in Angola. The mine's
state-of-the-art concentrator and proprietary MRES processing plant
are designed by Wood to the highest international standards.
The operations will be powered by renewable energy from
hydroelectric power and connected to the Port of Lobito by the
recently upgraded Benguela railway line.
Pensana believes 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
addressing the energy transition.
Pensana is also aiming to establish Saltend as an attractive
alternative to mining houses that 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.
www.pensana.co.uk