Share Issue/Capital Change • Oct 16, 2015
Share Issue/Capital Change
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Nickel Mountain Group announces fully underwritten private placement of NOK 400 million to fund the acquisition of Spanish debt collection platform
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART DIRECTLY
OR INDIRECTLY, IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN OR THE UNITED STATES
Nickel Mountain Group AB (publ.) (OSE: NMG) has entered into a conditional
agreement to acquire ALD Abogados S.L ("ALD") for a total consideration of
approximately NOK 166 million, of which NOK 120 million comprise cash and NOK 46
million by issuing up to a maximum of 47 million new shares (the "Consideration
Shares") in Nickel Mountain Group AB (publ.) ("NMG" or the "Company") at NOK 1
per share to the sellers of ALD, Mr. David Martín Ibeas and Mr. Andrés Lópes
Sánchez. NOK 28 million (or EUR 3 million) of the NOK 120 million in cash
consideration is only payable subject to the 2015 performance of ALD.
ALD is a Spanish debt collection service company, which subject to completion of
the acquisition, will serve as a platform investment to enter the Spanish debt
collection services market and as a platform for purchasing debt portfolios,
primarily from financial institutions in Spain. As a consequence of the new
strategy and focus of NMG, the Company plans to change its existing management
and, subject to a successful completion of the acquisition, consider proposing
changes to the Board of Directors. The current intention is to propose that
Endre Rangnes shall be appointed as the Chief Executive Officer for NMG and
Johnny Tsolis shall be appointed as Head of Strategy and Projects. Proposal for
a new Board of Directors will be made in due course. Completion of the ALD
transaction will lead to a shift in NMG´s focus from mineral exploration to debt
collection; and NMG will subject to shareholder approval seek divestment
opportunities for its remaining mineral exploration business, alternatively
close down that business. Please find attached an updated company presentation
that further presents the new strategy of the Company.
In order to finance the acquisition of ALD and further acquisitions of debt
portfolios, NMG has through a private placement, with DNB Markets acting as
manager (the "Manager"), placed 400 million new shares (the "Private Placement
Shares") with leading Norwegian institutional investors, family offices and the
proposed new management team for gross proceeds of NOK 400 million (the "Private
Placement"). The subscription price per Offer Share (the "Offer Price") was set
at NOK 1. The Offer Price represents a 46% premium to the weighted average share
price on the Oslo Stock Exchange over the last month prior to 14 October 2015 of
NOK 0.69 per share.
Completion of the acquisition and the Private Placement, and hence settlement of
allocated shares is subject to, among other things, approval by the shareholders
of the Company at an extraordinary general meeting (the "EGM") which is
scheduled for 17 November 2015. The notice for the EGM will be sent to the
shareholders in due course.
The Company further contemplates to carry out a rights issue of up to 60 million
additional new shares subsequent to the Private Placement (the "Subsequent
Offering"), in which shareholders of the Company as of the date falling one week
after the date of the EGM (as subsequently documented by the Company's register
of holders of shares with the VPS, or as the case may be, Euroclear Sweden) and
who are not resident in a jurisdiction where such offering would be unlawful, or
for jurisdictions other than Sweden or Norway, which would require any filing,
registration or similar action, (the "Eligible Shareholders") may participate.
Existing shareholders which participate in the Private Placement will not
participate in the Subsequent Offering. The Company will in due course announce
such record date, and the date from which the share in the Company starts
trading. The Company intends to seek listing for the subscription rights for the
Subsequent Offering.
The Private Placement and the Subsequent Offering are fully underwritten by a
group of Norwegian institutional investors and family offices, members of the
proposed new management team (the "Underwriters"), and existing shareholders of
the Company, including the Company's largest shareholder Strata Marine &
Offshore AS and associated companies. The Underwriters will receive an
underwriting fee of approximately NOK 9 million in the aggregate. Existing
shareholders that are among the Underwriters, holding an aggregate of
approximately 52% ownership in the Company, have signed a lock-up undertaking
until the existing shares trade exclusive of subscription rights for the
Subsequent Offering, and have undertaken to vote in favour of the Private
Placement at the EGM.
Following issuance, the Private Placement Shares will not be tradable on the
Oslo Stock Exchange (the "OSE") before, among other things, a listing
prospectus, to serve as listing particulars for listing of the Offer Shares on
the OSE and offering circular for a subsequent offering (the "Prospectus"), has
been approved by Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (the "SFSA") and
passported into Norway. The Private Placement Shares are expected to be
delivered to investors' accounts with the Norwegian Central Securities
Depositary (the "VPS"), subject to timely fulfilment of closing conditions, on
or about 26 November 2015. The due date for payment of the Private Placement
Shares is expected to be on or about 19 November 2015, subject to approval at
the EGM.
For technical and legal reasons pertaining to system requirements of Euroclear
Sweden (where the Company's shareholder register is maintained for the purposes
of Swedish law), the VPS and listing of the Private Placement Shares on the OSE,
the Private Placement Shares may initially be issued in a share class separate
from the remaining shares of the Company (or other appropriate mechanism at the
discretion of the Company). If such mechanism is applied, the Private Placement
Shares will automatically be converted into ordinary shares in the Company in
conjunction with approval and publication of the Prospectus. In the interim
period, from issuance and until conversion into ordinary shares, each Private
Placement Share will carry a voting right at general meetings equal to 99.9% of
the voting right attached to each existing ordinary share. Following conversion
of the Private Placement Shares into ordinary shares, the Company will have one
class of shares in issue, each share carrying equal rights in all respects. The
Private Placement Shares will not be listed or tradable on the OSE until the
Prospectus has been approved by the SFSA and published by the Company, and if
applicable, the Private Placement Shares have been converted into ordinary
shares in conjunction therewith. The Offer Shares may however in the interim
until listing on the OSE be sought registered on the Norwegian OTC list (the "N
-OTC List") operated by the Norwegian Securities Dealers Association.
As a result of the nature of the Private Placement, the shareholders pre-emptive
rights will be derogated from. After consideration duly made, the Board of
Directors of the Company is of the opinion that entering into to the ALD
transaction and financing the Transaction by means of the Private Placement is
in the best interest of the Company and its shareholders. For the purposes of
arriving at this conclusion, the Board of Directors has taken into
consideration, among other things, the potential and anticipated benefits for
the Company and its shareholders from acquiring the ALD, the alternative means
of financing of the transaction and the timeliness of such alternative means of
financing, as well as the implementation of the Subsequent Offering to limit
the dilutive effect of the Private Placement for the shareholders of the Company
who were not allocated shares in the Private Placement.
The acquisition of ALD is expected to be completed in due course, and as soon as
practicably possible after completion of the Private Placement. In addition to
the foregoing EGM approval of the acquisition and the Private Placement, the
closing of the acquisition is subject to certain customary closing conditions
for transactions of this kind. The Company also expects to propose to the EGM
the authorisation of a share option program for current and future employees of
the combined entity, over a maximum of 55.5 million share options.
"ALD is a leading Spanish legal debt collection agency, enabling Nickel Mountain
Group to enter the interesting Spanish debt collection services market. The
acquisition will serve as a platform investment to purchase debt portfolios,
primarily from financial institutions in Spain, aligned with the new corporate
strategy of building a high growth, high return debt management services
company", says Martin Nes, Chairman of the Board of Directors.
About ALD
ALD is a leading Spanish legal debt collection agency established in 2010. ALD
has 89 employees and 675 external lawyers and solicitors in its network with
presence in all 421 judicial districts in Spain. ALD has a management team with
long industry experience and has access to collection data for deal sourcing and
pricing. The current management of ALD consists of Mr David Martin Ibeas and Mr
Andres Lopez Sanchez as general managers, Mr Jose Luis Pintado as financial
director and Ms Sonia Borja and Ms Beatriz Castillo as operations managers.
ALD's current management body consists of Mr Ibeas and Mr Sanchez.
ALD delivered revenues of EUR 4.1 million and EBITDA of EUR 1.9 million in 2014
(Spanish GAAP). As of 31 December 2014, ALD had total assets of EUR 2.5 million,
and total equity and liabilities of EUR 2.5 million (Spanish GAAP).
For and on behalf of the Board of Directors of Nickel Mountain Group AB
Martin Nes
Chairman of the Board
For information, please contact Martin Nes
Mail: [email protected]
Tel: + 47 23014908
Cell Phone: +47 920 14814
Cautionary Statement: Statements and assumptions made in this document with
respect to Nickel Mountain Group AB's ("NMG") current plans, estimates,
strategies and beliefs, and other statements that are not historical facts, are
forward-looking statements about the future performance of NMG. Forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to, those using words such as "may",
"might", "seeks", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates", "believes", "projects",
"plans", strategy", "forecast" and similar expressions. These statements reflect
management's expectations and assumptions in light of currently available
information. They are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including,
but not limited to, (i) changes in the economic, regulatory and political
environments in the countries where NMG operates; (ii) changes relating to the
geological information available in respect of the various projects undertaken;
(iii) NMG's continued ability to secure enough financing to carry on its
operations as a going concern; (iv) the success of its potential joint ventures
and alliances, if any; (v) metal prices, particularly as regards nickel. In the
light of the many risks and uncertainties surrounding any mineral project at an
early stage of its development, the actual results could differ materially from
those presented and forecast in this document. NMG assumes no unconditional
obligation to immediately update any such statements and/or forecasts.
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