AGM Information • Jun 22, 2018
AGM Information
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THIS DOCUMENT IS IMPORTANT AND REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. If you are in any doubt about the contents of this document, or as to what action you should take, you should consult an independent professional adviser authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (''FSMA''), who specialises in advising on the acquisition of shares and other securities if you are resident in the UK, or, if you are not resident in the UK, from another appropriately authorised independent financial adviser in your own jurisdiction.
If you have sold or otherwise transferred all of your registered holding of ordinary shares of nominal value 0.1 pence each (each, an ''Existing Ordinary Share'') in the capital of Pembridge Resources plc (the ''Company'' or ''Pembridge''), please forward this document, together with the accompanying form of proxy (''Form of Proxy''), at once to the purchaser or transferee or to the bank, stockbroker or other agent through whom or by whom the sale or transfer was made, for delivery to the purchaser or transferee. However, this document and any accompanying documents should not be sent or transmitted in, or into, any jurisdiction where to do so might constitute a violation of local securities law or regulations. If you have sold only part of your holding of Existing Ordinary Shares, please contact the bank, stockbroker or other agent through whom or by whom the sale or transfer was made immediately.
(Incorporated and registered in England & Wales with registered number 07352056)
Notice of General Meeting to consider proposals relating to: a share consolidation authorities to allot shares a buy-back of deferred shares and a capital reduction
Notice convening a general meeting of the shareholders of the Company (the ''Shareholders'') to be held at the offices of Cooley (UK) LLP, Dashwood, 69 Old Broad Street, London EC2M 1QS, United Kingdom on 16 July 2018 at 11.00 a.m. is set out at the end of this document. A Form of Proxy accompanies this document. To be valid, the form of Proxy for use at the General Meeting must be completed and returned so as to be received at the offices of the Company's registrars, Link Asset Services Limited, at 34 Beckenham Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 4ZF, United Kingdom, not later than 11.00 a.m. on 12 July 2018. The completion and depositing of a Form of Proxy will not preclude Shareholders from attending and voting in person at the General Meeting should they wish to do so.
A copy of this document is available, subject to certain restrictions relating to persons resident in any Restricted Jurisdiction, at the Company's website www.pembridgeresources.com. Neither the content of the Company's website nor any website accessible by hyperlinks to the Company's website is incorporated in, or forms part of, this document.
| Publication of this document | 22 June 2018 |
|---|---|
| Latest time and date for receipt of CREST voting intentions | 11.00 a.m. on 12 July 2018 |
| Latest time and date for receipt of Forms of Proxy for the General Meeting | 11.00 a.m. on 12 July 2018 |
| Register for Existing Ordinary Shares closed and Existing Ordinary Shares disabled in CREST |
6.00 p.m. on 16 July 2018 |
| Record time for Share Consolidation | 6.00 p.m. on 16 July 2018 |
| Time and date for the General Meeting | 11.00 a.m. on 16 July 2018 |
| CREST accounts expected to be credited with New Ordinary Shares | 17 July 2018 |
| Expected date for definitive share certificates in respect of New Ordinary Shares to be despatched |
31 July 2018 |
References to time are to London time unless otherwise stated. Each of the dates in the above timetable is subject to change without further notice.
The dealing codes for the New Ordinary Shares will be:
| TIDM | PERE |
|---|---|
| ISIN | GB00BG107324 |
| SEDOL | BG107324 |
| LEI | 213800TBL26T6G088M13 |
(Incorporated and registered in England & Wales with registered number 07352056)
Directors:
Francis McAllister, Non-Executive Chairman David Linsley, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director Gati Al-Jebouri, Non-Executive Director Guy Roger Le Bel, Non-Executive Director
Registered Office: Suite A, 6 Honduras Street London EC1Y 0TH United Kingdom
22 June 2018
Dear Shareholder
The Company announced on 15 February 2018 it had signed the Minto Acquisition Agreement with Capstone to acquire 100 per cent. of Minto. This resulted in the suspension of the Company's Existing Ordinary Shares from trading on the basis that the Minto Acquisition would constitute a reverse takeover for the purposes of the Listing Rules.
The consideration for the proposed Minto Acquisition comprises US\$37.5 million in cash and the issue of Consideration Shares credited as fully paid equal to 9.9 per cent. of the Enlarged Issued Share Capital. The Minto Acquisition is also subject to a working capital adjustment, but which remains subject to finalisation on completion of the Minto Acquisition.
On 21 June 2018, the Company announced that it was commencing a fundraising process to raise the necessary equity share capital to complete the Minto Acquisition by way of a proposed placing to raise approximately US\$40,000,000 by the issue of Placing Shares pursuant to the Placing.
The Company is currently preparing a prospectus relating to the Enlarged Group which will form the basis for the applications for Admission to listing of the Enlarged Issued Share Capital of the Company to the Official List (by way of a Standard Listing pursuant to Chapter 14 of the Listing Rules) and to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.
However, in order to expedite the timeframe to Admission, and to potentially remove the requirement to publish the prospectus and simultaneously convene a general meeting to request the necessary authorities to issue shares in the proposed Placing, the Company is taking this opportunity to convene the General Meeting in order to take those authorities in advance of publication of the prospectus.
By proceeding in this way, the Company anticipates that it will be possible for Admission to occur in late July 2018 as opposed to mid-to-late August 2018. The Company does not need the approval of Shareholders to complete the Minto Acquisition, but the Company does require Shareholder approval to issue shares to raise the necessary equity finance by way of the proposed Placing.
The Company is also taking this opportunity to conduct a share consolidation on the basis of every 10 Existing Ordinary Shares of nominal value 0.1 pence each into 1 New Ordinary Share of nominal value 1 pence each (the ''Share Consolidation''). The Directors are of the view that the Company is not well served by having a low single digit share price as this potentially can lead to a significant buy/sell pricing spread on the Company's shares which is inconvenient for Shareholders and acts as a bar to liquidity.
The Company is also taking this opportunity to conduct some house-keeping measures in respect of its historic deferred shares and to rationalise its capital and reserves by way of a capital reduction (as explained below).
A notice convening the General Meeting, which is to be held at the offices of Cooley (UK) LLP, Dashwood, 69 Old Broad Street, London EC2M 1QS, United Kingdom at 11.00 a.m. on 16 July 2018, is set out at the end of this document. At the General Meeting, the following Resolutions will be proposed:
(a) Resolution 1 is an ordinary resolution to approve the Share Consolidation of every 10 Existing Ordinary Shares of nominal value 0.1 pence each into 1 New Ordinary Share of nominal value 1 pence each;
As a result of the Share Consolidation, each Shareholder's percentage interest in the total issued share capital immediately before and after the implementation of the Share Consolidation will (save in respect of fractional entitlements) remain unchanged. A Shareholder's holding of Existing Ordinary Shares when divided by 10 may give rise to an entitlement to a fraction of a New Ordinary Share. Fractional entitlements arising from the Share Consolidation will be aggregated and sold in the market. The proceeds due to any individual Shareholder from the sale of any fractional entitlement will be less than £1.00, the proceeds will accordingly be donated to charities or good causes chosen by the Board which operate in the Yukon, the Company's future centre of commercial operations. The value of any one Shareholder's fractional entitlement will not exceed the value of one New Ordinary Share.
Following the Share Consolidation, and assuming no further Existing Ordinary Shares are issued between 21 June 2018 (being the last practicable date prior to publication of this document) and the date on which the Share Consolidation becomes effective, the Company's total Existing Issued Share Capital will comprise 22,384,925 New Ordinary Shares (excluding any fraction of an Existing Ordinary Share), prior to the issue of the Placing Shares and the Consideration Shares. The shares comprising the Enlarged Issued Share Capital, when issued, will rank pari passu in all respects with all New Ordinary Shares in issue on Admission, including the right to receive dividends and other distributions declared following Admission.
To the extent the number of Placing Shares to be issued in the Placing is less than anticipated, the Enlarged Issued Share Capital following Admission will be reduced, such that the authorities requested pursuant to resolutions 4 and 5 will be in excess of two thirds and 20 per cent. of the Enlarged Issued Share Capital, respectively. Accordingly, and for the avoidance of doubt, the Directors hereby confirm that the Company will not issue shares in excess of the stated thresholds of two thirds of the Enlarged Share Capital in respect of resolution 4, and 20 per cent. of the Enlarged Share Capital in respect of resolution 5.
(f) Resolution 6 is an ordinary resolution to buy-back the existing Deferred Shares;
The Deferred Shares were created due to the earlier losses of capital which had arisen on the Company's activities prior to it becoming an investment company. The Board can see no reason for the Deferred Shares to remain on the balance sheet and recommends that the Deferred Shares be purchased by the Company and cancelled (the ''Buy-Back''). The Deferred Shares have no economic value, and do not carry any voting rights.
Under the provisions of the Companies Act, a public limited company may not fund the purchase of its shares except out of its distributable reserves or the proceeds of a fresh issue of shares made solely for the purpose of such buy-back. The Company has no distributable reserves with which to fund the Buy-Back and therefore it is proposed that the Buy-Back is funded out of the proceeds of a new issue of one New Ordinary Share at a price of £10.00.
The Buy-Back is conditional upon Shareholder approval. At the General Meeting, Shareholders will be asked to approve, if thought fit, the Buy-Back pursuant to Resolution 6.
Under the provisions of the Articles, the Company has the power to buy-back all the existing Deferred Shares for £1 in aggregate. In addition, the Company has the power to appoint anyone to sign the Buy-Back Agreement on behalf of all the holders of the existing Deferred Shares and the Company proposes that any one of its Directors be authorised to carry out this function.
(g) Resolution 7, which is conditional upon the Placing and the Minto Acquisition completing in accordance with their terms, is a special resolution to approve a capital reduction;
The Board believes it is an appropriate time to carry out a rationalisation of certain capital and reserves accounts standing to the Company's balance sheet. Accordingly, approval is being sought to carry out a reduction of the Company's capital by way of the cancellation of the whole of the amount standing to the credit of the Company's share premium account and the capital redemption reserve (which will arise on the cancellation of the Deferred Shares, effected pursuant to Resolution 6) which will eliminate a substantial proportion of the current deficit position and, will thus create distributable reserves. This will allow the Company to be able to declare dividends in the future (subject to available cash) subject to the Directors' decision to do so.
As at 31 December 2017, there was US\$2.902m standing to the credit of the Company's share premium account and a capital redemption reserve on cancellation of the Deferred Shares of US\$972,300 will arise on the cancellation of the Deferred Shares. Both reserves are proposed to be cancelled in full (including any increase since 31 December 2017). As at 31 December 2017, the retained earnings of the Company were negative to the extent of US\$2.203m. The effect of the capital reduction will be to extinguish a substantial amount of this negative amount and create a pro forma positive retained earnings position.
In addition to the approval by the Shareholders of Resolution 7, the capital reduction requires the approval of the High Court. Accordingly, following approval of the capital reduction by Shareholders, an application will be made to the High Court in order to confirm and approve the capital reduction.
In seeking the High Court's approval of the capital reduction, the High Court may require protection for the creditors (including contingent creditors) of the Company whose debts remain outstanding on the relevant date, except in the case of creditors which have consented to the capital reduction. Any such creditor protection may include seeking the consent of the Company's creditors to the capital reduction, the provision by the Company to the High Court of an undertaking to deposit a sum of money into a blocked account created for the purpose of discharging the non-consenting creditors of the Company or the giving of alternative undertakings to protect creditors. The Company currently owes minimal sums to its creditors, consisting of general trade creditors. Where appropriate the Company may seek consent or acquiescence from certain creditors and will seek to give appropriate undertakings to the High Court to protect all other remaining creditors.
It is anticipated that the capital reduction will become effective in the third quarter of 2018, following the necessary registration of the Court Order at Companies House.
The capital reduction itself will not involve any distribution or repayment of capital or share premium by the Company and will not reduce the underlying net assets of the Company. The Company has no current intention of distributing the reserves created by the capital reduction.
The Board reserves the right to abandon or to discontinue (in whole or in part) any application to the High Court in the event that the Board considers that the terms on which the capital reduction would be (or would be likely to be) confirmed by the High Court would not be in the best interests of the Company and/or the Shareholders as a whole. The Directors have undertaken a review of the Company's liabilities (including contingent liabilities) and are not aware of any issue that might prevent the Company from being able to satisfy the High Court that, as at the date (if any) on which the court order relating to the capital reduction and the statement of capital in respect of the capital reduction have both been registered by the Registrar of Companies at Companies House and the capital reduction therefore becomes effective, the Company's creditors will either consent to the capital reduction or be sufficiently protected.
Following the implementation of the capital reduction, there will be no change in the number of New Ordinary Shares in issue. No new share certificates will be issued as a result of the capital reduction.
The capital reduction will not affect any outstanding options and awards over the Company's shares granted under option schemes or share plans.
A Form of Proxy is enclosed for use by Shareholders at the General Meeting. Whether or not Shareholders intend to be present at the General Meeting, they are asked to complete, sign and return the Form of Proxy by post or by hand to the Company's Registrars, Link Asset Services Limited, The Registry, 34 Beckenham Road, Beckenham BR3 4TU, United Kingdom, as soon as possible but in any event so as to arrive no later than 11.00 a.m. on 12 July 2018. The completion and return of a Form of Proxy will not preclude a Shareholder from attending the General Meeting and voting in person should they wish to do so.
The Directors are of the opinion that the Resolutions are in the best interests of the Company and its Shareholders as a whole. Accordingly, the Directors unanimously recommend that Shareholders vote in favour of each of these Resolutions, as the Directors intend to do in respect of their own beneficial shareholdings, which amount in aggregate to 20,781,250 Existing Ordinary Shares, representing approximately 9.78 per cent. of the Existing Issued Share Capital.
If the Resolutions are not passed the Share Consolidation, the Placing and the Minto Acquisition will not proceed and Admission will not take place. The Company's suspension will be lifted with the Existing Ordinary Shares being capable of being traded, however liquidity may be extremely limited in such circumstances. In such circumstances, absent an viable alternative proposal it is almost certain that the Directors will need to put immediate plans to Shareholders to liquidate the Company and return remaining cash resources (which may be limited) to Shareholders.
Yours faithfully,
Frank McAllister Non-Executive Chairman
The following definitions apply throughout this Document, unless the context requires otherwise:
| ''Admission'' | the admission of the Enlarged Ordinary Share Capital to Standard Listing and to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. |
|---|---|
| ''Articles'' | the articles of association of the Company in force from time to time. |
| ''Board'' | the board of Directors from time to time. |
| ''Business Day'' | a day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday in England. |
| ''Buy-Back'' | the Company's plan to buy-back and cancel the Deferred Shares. |
| ''Buy-Back Agreement'' | the buy-back agreement between the Company and Cooley Services Limited (as holder of the Deferred Shares) pursuant to which the Company will buy-back all of the Deferred Shares for the aggregate sum of £1.00 pursuant to the Buy-Back. |
| ''Capstone'' | Capstone Mining Corp. |
| ''Consideration Shares'' | New Ordinary Shares to be issued to Capstone pursuant to the Minto Acquisition representing 9.9% of the Enlarged Issued Share Capital. |
| ''Companies Act'' | the Companies Act 2006. |
| ''Company'' or ''Pembridge'' | Pembridge Resources plc and its subsidiaries and subsidiary undertakings from time to time. |
| ''CREST'' | the paperless settlement system operated by Euroclear enabling securities to be evidenced otherwise than by certificates and transferred otherwise than by written instruments. |
| ''CREST Regulations'' | the Uncertificated Securities Regulations 2001 (SI 2001 No. 3755). |
| ''Deferred Shares'' | means the deferred shares of nominal value 0.9 pence each in the capital of the Company. |
| ''Directors'' | the directors of the Company, from time to time. |
| ''Enlarged Group'' | the Group following the completion of the Minto Acquisition and Admission. |
| ''Enlarged Issued Share Capital'' |
the Existing Ordinary Shares following the Share Consolidation, the Consideration Shares and the Placing Shares. |
| ''Existing Issued Share Capital'' | the Existing Ordinary Shares in issue as at the date of this document. |
| ''Existing Ordinary Shares'' | 223,849,257 ordinary shares of nominal value 0.1 pence each in the capital of the Company in issue as at the date of this document. |
| ''FCA'' | the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority. |
| ''FSMA'' | the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. |
| ''General Meeting'' | the general meeting to be held at the offices of Cooley (UK) LLP, Dashwood, 69 Old Broad Street, London EC2M 1QS, United Kingdom on 16 July 2018 at 11:00 a.m. in which the Resolutions are to be proposed. |
| ''Group'' | the Company and its subsidiaries, from time to time. |
| ''ISIN'' | International Securities Identification Number. |
| ''LEI'' | legal entity identifier. |
| ''Listing Rules'' | the listing rules of the FCA made in accordance with section 73A of FSMA. |
| ''Main Market'' | the main market for listed securities for the London Stock Exchange. |
|---|---|
| ''Minto'' | Minto Explorations Limited. |
| ''Minto Acquisition'' | the acquisition of Minto by the Company's wholly owned subsidiary Minotaur Acquisition Limited pursuant to the Minto Acquisition Agreement. |
| ''Minto Acquisition Agreement'' | the conditional agreement between the Company and Capstone dated 14 February 2018 for the sale and purchase of Minto. |
| ''New Ordinary Shares'' | ordinary shares of 1 pence each in the issued share capital of the Company. |
| ''Notice'' | the notice of the General Meeting set out at the end of this document. |
| ''Official List'' | the Official List of the FCA. |
| ''Placing'' | the conditional placing by the Company's appointed bookrunners of the Placing Shares with investors. |
| ''Placing Shares'' | New Ordinary Shares to be allotted and issued in connection with the Placing. |
| ''Registrar'' | Link Asset Services Limited or any other registrar appointed by the Company from time to time. |
| ''Resolutions'' | the resolutions to be proposed at the General Meeting, details of which are set out in the Notice. |
| ''SEDOL'' | Stock Exchange Daily Official List. |
| ''Shareholder'' | a person who is a registered as holder of the Existing Ordinary Shares or the New Ordinary Shares (as the case may be) from time to time. |
| ''Standard Listing'' | a listing on the standard segment of the Official List under Chapter 14 of the Listing Rules. |
| ''TIDM'' | Tradeable Instrument Display Mnemonic. |
| ''United Kingdom'' or ''UK'' | the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. |
References to a ''company'' in this document shall be construed so as to include any company, corporation or other body corporate, wherever and however incorporated or established. All references to legislation in this document are to the legislation of England and Wales unless the contrary is indicated. Any reference to any provision of any legislation shall include any amendment, modification, re-enactment or extension thereof. Words importing the singular shall include the plural and vice versa, and words importing the masculine gender shall include the feminine or neutral gender. For the purpose of this document, ''subsidiary'' and ''subsidiary undertaking'' have the meanings given by the Companies Act.
(Incorporated and registered in England & Wales with registered number 07352056)
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a General Meeting of Pembridge Resources plc (the ''Company'') will be held at the offices of Cooley (UK) LLP, Dashwood, 69 Old Broad Street, London EC2M 1QS, United Kingdom at 11.00 a.m. on 16 July 2018 for the purposes of considering and, if thought fit, passing the following resolutions which will put to the meeting of which resolutions 1, 2, 4 and 6 will be proposed as ordinary resolutions and resolutions 3, 5 and 7 will be proposed as special resolutions. Defined terms used but not defined herein shall have the meaning given to them in the Company's circular dated 22 June 2018, of which this notice of general meeting forms a part and which is available for inspection on the Company's website and its registered office.
4 That conditional upon the completion of the Placing and the Minto Acquisition (each as defined in the circular of which this notice forms part), in substitution for all powers granted at the Company's annual general meeting held on 1 June 2018 (the ''2018 AGM'') but in addition to the power granted by resolution 2 above, for the period ending on the date of the Company's next annual general meeting or 15 months after the passing of this resolution, whichever is the earlier, the authority and power conferred on the Directors by article 8 of the Company's articles of association to allot relevant securities up to an aggregate nominal amount equal to the section 551 amount of £1,069,000 representing the anticipated aggregate nominal value of two thirds of the ordinary shares, provided that in relation to any allotment of relevant securities in excess of £534,500, representing the aggregate nominal value of one third of the ordinary shares, such authority shall only be used if the relevant securities are equity securities and they are allotted in connection with a rights issue or other pre-emptive issues of equity shares which satisfies the conditions and may be subject to all or any of the exclusions specified in resolution 3, provided that the Company may before such expiry, variation or revocation make an offer or agreement which would or might require such relevant or equity securities to be allotted after such expiry, variation or revocation and the directors may allot relevant or equity securities pursuant to such an offer or agreement as if the authority conferred hereby had not expired or been varied or revoked.
6 That the terms of the Buy-Back Agreement (as available for inspection on the Company's website and at its registered office) be and is hereby approved.
7 That, conditional upon the completion of the Placing and the Minto Acquisition (each as defined in the circular of which this notice forms part), the share premium account and the capital redemption reserve be cancelled.
Registered office: Suite A, 2 Honduras Street London EC1Y 0TH United Kingdom
BY ORDER OF THE BOARD Company Secretary Pembridge Resources plc 22 June 2018
Explanatory notes as to the proxy, voting and attendance procedures at the General Meeting
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