Caledonia: result of Zimbabwe placing & Issue of deferred shares
Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc today announced both the results of the Zimbabwe Placing, and also the issue of the deferred shares in relation to the Company’s acquisition of Bilboes Gold Limited.
Result of Zimbabwe Placing
Caledonia is pleased to announce that, further to the announcements made on March 24, 2023 and March 31, 2023, the Zimbabwe Placing has now closed and has raised approximately US$5.825 million before expenses. The Zimbabwe Placing received strong support from new and existing institutional investors. A total of 423,951 ZDRs have been placed at the Placing Price of $13.74 each. IH Securities (Private) Limited acted as broker in relation to the Zimbabwe Placing.
As a reminder, a total of 781,749 Placing Shares were admitted to trading on AIM on March 30, 2023 following a placing with domestic and international institutional and sophisticated investors at the Placing Price by Cenkos, Liberum, and Standard Bank acting as joint book-runners in relation to the Placing. Therefore, in total including the aforementioned ZDRs, a total of 1,205,700 common shares have been placed in the form of depositary interests and ZDRs and the Fundraise has raised in total approximately US$16.566 million before expenses.
The net proceeds of the Fundraise, together with the Company’s existing cash reserves and the future cash to be generated from its ownership of the producing and cash-generative Blanket Mine and from the Bilboes oxide operation, will strengthen the Company’s balance sheet and provide the Company with working capital flexibility to accelerate planned work at the three new gold projects it is currently undertaking in Zimbabwe.
Issue of Deferred Shares
Further to the announcement by Caledonia on January 6, 2023 relating to the Company’s acquisition of Bilboes Gold Limited (the “Transaction”), the Company announces that it has instructed the issue of a further 256,152 shares (the “Deferred Shares”).
As a reminder, under the Transaction, 5% of the total consideration shares, being the Deferred Shares, were retained by Caledonia in order that adjustments to the purchase price could be calculated after completion to account for any extraordinary liabilities incurred.
Admission, settlement and dealings
Applications have been made to the London Stock Exchange plc for the following to be admitted to trading on AIM (“Admission”):
(a) 423,951 depository interests representing the ZDRs; and
(b) 256,152 depository interests representing the Deferred Shares,
Admission is expected to occur at 8.00 a.m. on April 14, 2023. The shares issued in respect of the ZDRs and the Deferred Shares will rank pari passu with the common shares in the Company, with settlement scheduled for April 14, 2023.
Following the issue of the ZDRs and the Deferred Shares, the Company will have a total number of shares in issue of 19,186,259 common shares of no par value each, all of which have voting rights. The figure of 19,186,259 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 any change to their interest in, the Company.
Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc’s Chief Executive Officer, Mark Learmonth, commented in respect of the Zimbabwe Placing:
“I am very pleased to see such strong demand from new and existing institutional investors in Zimbabwe such as Zimbabwe’s Mining Industry Pension Fund who subscribed for a significant amount of the Zimbabwe Placing. Their support will help us accelerate our growth plans in Zimbabwe.”