REG - Kefi Gold and Copper - Fundraise of £7.6m to expedite Tulu Kapi launch

KEFI Gold and CopperAnnouncement

21/05/2025 15:15

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
https://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20250521:nRSU6509Ja&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 6509J  Kefi Gold and Copper PLC  21 May 2025

 

21 May 2025

KEFI Gold and Copper plc

 

("KEFI" or the "Company")

 

Fundraise of £7.6m to expedite launch of Tulu Kapi

 

Placing and Subscription to provide gross cash proceeds of £7.0m for KEFI

 

and

 

Issue of equity £0.6 million in lieu of liabilities

 

KEFI (AIM: KEFI), the gold and copper exploration and development company
focused on the Arabian-Nubian Shield, announces that it has completed a
placing and subscription to raise gross cash proceeds of £7,000,000 and is
issuing £600,000 of equity in lieu of liabilities (the "Fundraise") through
the issue of 1,381,818,172 ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each in the capital of
the Company ("Ordinary Shares") at 0.55 pence (the "Placing Price").

 

The Fundraise follows the recent announcement on 13 May 2025 of Ethiopian
Country Membership having been ratified in Parliament for both the Company's
project finance banks and the subsequent request by both banks and the
Government to now intensify preparations for the launch of the Company's Tulu
Kapi Gold Project ("Tulu Kapi" or the "Project").

 

The Placing

 

The Company has raised gross proceeds of £6,000,000 through a placing of
1,090,909,082 Ordinary Shares ("Placing Shares") at the Placing Price
("Placing"). The Company welcomes a major new institutional shareholder
following this Placing and notably received the support of existing
shareholders. The addition of new shareholders complements the existing
strength of investors at the in-country subsidiary level, which includes the
Company's joint venture partners in Ethiopia comprising the Ethiopian Federal
Government, Oromia Regional Government, and the Ethiopian Sovereign Fund, the
largest in Africa. In Saudi Arabia, the Company is also supported by major
local shareholder Abdulrahman Al Rashid and Sons (ARTAR) and its exploration
joint venture partner, Hancock Prospecting, through their operating joint
venture company, Gold and Minerals Limited.

 

The Placing was undertaken by the Company's broker, Tavira Financial Limited.

 

The Subscription

 

The Company has raised gross cash proceeds of £1,000,000 and satisfied
£600,000 in lieu of liabilities through a subscription for 290,909,090
Ordinary Shares ("Subscription Shares") at the Placing Price. The £600,000
subscribed in lieu of liabilities is from three service providers to the
Company with longer-term roles who requested to invest the amounts owed to
them into Ordinary Shares.

 

Use of Funds

 

The net proceeds of the Fundraise will be used to cover lender-related
expenses and commitment fees, the Company's costs for securing fixed price
components and scheduling, legal expenses incurred in successfully defending
the Project against false claims (please see announcement published on 21
January 2025) and general working capital.  Most of these costs form part of
the Tulu Kapi development budget.

 

KEFI Founder and Executive Chairman, Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, commented:
"This month's Parliamentary ratification in Ethiopia of our co-lender bank's
entry into the country has triggered requests from Government and from our
banks, that we proceed to signing of detailed definitive agreements and full
Project launch of the Tulu Kapi Gold Project.

 

"Today's Fundraise will allow the payment of various closing preparation costs
including legal costs, bank commitment fees and various other launch-related
requirements such as certifications of costs and schedule.

 

"It also serves to strengthen the Company's capital base by welcoming to the
KEFI share register a major institutional investor, complementing the
strategic investors and financiers already installed at the subsidiary levels
including the Government of Ethiopia the leading Saudi investment group ARTAR,
major African banks TDB and AFC and other strategic investors and financiers.

 

"It has taken years to assemble this strong and bespoke platform, designed to
support our planned growth in the Arabian-Nubian Shield and starting with the
imminent launch of major works at the Tulu Kapi Gold Project in Ethiopia, one
of Africa's highest grade gold development projects."

 

Admission and Total Voting Rights

 

Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for admission of the
Placing Shares and the Subscription Shares (together, the "New Ordinary
Shares") to trading on AIM and it is expected that admission will become
effective and that dealings in the New Ordinary Shares will commence at 8.00
a.m. on or around 28 May 2025 ("Admission").

 

Following Admission, the total issued share capital of the Company will
consist of 9,362,572,962 Ordinary Shares each with one voting right. The
Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury. Therefore, the total
number of voting rights in the Company will be 9,362,572,962 and 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 share capital of the Company under the FCA's
Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

 

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law
by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is
disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of
MAR.  The person responsible for the release of this announcement is Harry
Anagnostaras-Adams (Executive Chairman).

 

 

 KEFI Gold and Copper plc
 Harry Anagnostaras-Adams (Executive Chairman)       +357 2225 6161
 John Leach (Finance Director)

 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nominated Adviser)  +44 (0) 20 3470 0470
 Jeff Keating, Adam Cowl

 Tavira Financial Limited (UK Lead Broker)           +44 (0) 20 7100 5100
 Oliver Stansfield, Jonathan Evans

 IFC Advisory Ltd (UK Financial PR)                  +44 (0) 20 3934 6630
 Tim Metcalfe, Florence Staton

 3PPB LLC (North American Financial PR)
 Patrick Chidley                                     +1 (917) 991 7701
 Paul Durham                                         +1-203-940-2538

 

Notes to Editor

 

KEFI Gold and Copper plc

 

KEFI is focused primarily on the development of Tulu Kapi in Ethiopia and its
pipeline of highly prospective exploration projects in the Arabian-Nubian
Shield. KEFI targets that production at Tulu Kapi will generate cash flows for
capital repayments, further exploration and dividends to shareholders.

 

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  IOEGZGZKDMDGKZM