REG - Dekel Agri-Vision - Increased acquisition of Cashew Operation to 100%

Dekel Agri-VisionAnnouncement

24/01/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 5992N  Dekel Agri-Vision PLC  24 January 2023

 

Dekel Agri-Vision Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: DKL / Sector: Food Producers

 

Dekel Agri-Vision Plc

('Dekel' or the 'Company')

Acquisition to increase Cashew Operation ownership to 100%

 

Dekel Agri-Vision Plc (AIM: DKL), the West African agriculture company focused
on building a portfolio of sustainable and diversified projects, is pleased to
announce it has entered into an agreement to acquire an additional 29.3%
interest in the large scale raw cashew nut ('RCN') processing project at
Tiebissou, Côte d'Ivoire (the 'Cashew Operation'), which will increase its
interest to 100% (the 'Acquisition').  The Cashew Operation is now
transitioning towards full commercial production in 2023, alongside the
100%-owned palm oil production asset at Ayenouan.

 

Key Terms of Cashew Operation Acquisition.

Dekel is increasing its interest in the Cashew Project via the acquisition of
a 29.3% beneficial interest in Pearlside Holdings Ltd ('Pearlside'), the
wholly owned parent of Capro CI SA, the entity which owns the Cashew Operation
for a total consideration of £619k (based on closing share price of 3.1p per
share as at 23 January 2023).  Consideration is to be settled via the issue
of 19,968,701 new ordinary shares of €0.0003367 in the Company (the
'Consideration Shares'). The Consideration Shares, which represent
approximately 3.6% of Dekel's enlarged share capital, are to be issued to four
shareholders of Pearlside and will be subject to a 12 month lock-in period and
a 12 month orderly market undertaking thereafter.  The total RCN business had
losses of £346k in 2021 and the attributable loss for the additional 29.3%
interest being acquired in this transaction is £101k (being 29.3% of £346k).

 

Cashew Operation Commencing Commercial Production in 2023

Under a phased development programme, the Cashew Operation at Tiebissou is
currently transitioning to full scale commercial production at an initial RCN
processing capacity of 10,000 tonnes per annum with the potential for further
capacity to be added via the increasing of labor shifts from two to three
shifts and installing a second line of cashew processing in due course.  The
Directors believe the Cashew Operation, which will capitalise on a shortfall
in cashew processing capacity in Côte d'Ivoire, one of the world's largest
cashew growers, will be cash flow generative at the initial processing
capacity.

 

Dekel Agri-Vision Plc Executive Director Lincoln Moore said: "With the cashew
processing operations at Tiebissou currently transitioning to full scale
commercial production, we believe this is the right time to increase our
interest which we believe will scale up and diversify our revenues and
transform our financial profile. We view the pricing of this acquisition as
value accretive for Dekel shareholders.

 

"Our portfolio also includes the established Palm Oil operations at Ayenouan,
which are well placed to benefit from the high prices in global crude palm oil
during the upcoming current peak harvest season in Cote d'Ivoire. We believe
that we have a clear line of sight towards building a multi-project,
multi-commodity agriculture company, which has the potential to generate
significant returns for investors and significant benefits for the local
smallholders with whom we work closely with.  We look forward to providing
further updates on our progress."

 

Admission to trading on AIM

In relation to the Pearlside acquisition, application has been made to the
London Stock Exchange for the admission of a total of 19,968,701 new ordinary
shares of €0.0003367 each to be admitted to trading on AIM ('Admission'). It
is expected that Admission will become effective on or around 10 February
2023.

 

Total voting rights

Following Admission, the total issued share capital of the Company will
be 557,923,799 Ordinary Shares.  The Company has no Ordinary Shares in
treasury.  Therefore the total number of voting rights in the Company is
557,923,799 and this figure should be used by shareholders of the Company as
the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are
required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the
share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and
Transparency Rules.

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
the UK version of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 which is part of UK law by
virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended ("MAR"). Upon
the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service,
this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

 

** ENDS **

 

For further information, please visit the Company's website
www.dekelagrivision.com or contact:

 

 Dekel Agri-Vision Plc                     +44 (0) 207 236 1177

 Youval Rasin

 Shai Kol

 Lincoln Moore

 WH Ireland Ltd (Nomad and Joint Broker)   +44 (0) 20 7220 1666

 James Joyce

 Megan Liddell

 Optiva Securities Limited (Joint Broker)  +44 (0) 203 137 1903

 Christian Dennis

 Daniel Ingram

 

Notes:

Dekel Agri-Vision Plc is a multi-project, multi-commodity agriculture company
focused on West Africa. It has a portfolio of projects in Côte d'Ivoire at
various stages of development: a fully operational palm oil project in
Ayenouan where fruit produced by local smallholders is processed at the
Company's 60,000tpa capacity crude palm oil mill and a cashew processing
project in Tiebissou, which is currently transitioning to full commercial
production in 2023.

 

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