LONDON, UK: Saturn Resources Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ETC Holdings (Mauritius) Limited, reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash acquisition of the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Shanta Gold Limited.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Shanta shareholders (other than any member of the buyer group) will be entitled to receive 13.5 pence in cash for each Shanta share valuing the entire issued share capital of Shanta at approximately £141.95 million.
Saturn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ETC Holdings, an investing company with assets in a diverse range of industries, primarily through its controlling shareholding in ETC Group, trading as “ETG”.
ETG is a multi-billion USD-revenue global conglomerate with expertise across multiple industries, encompassing agricultural inputs, logistics, merchandising and processing of agricultural commodities, supply chain optimization, digital transformation, metals and energy.
ETG has operations in over 40 countries, employing in excess of 7,000 people and owning over 400 warehousing, processing and distribution centres.
Ketan Patel, a director of Bidco and ETC Holdings, said: “As a shareholder in Shanta, we remain supportive of management and their strategy. However, we believe that Shanta’s share price may inhibit Shanta’s ability to deliver on its strategy and potential to maximise future shareholder returns.
Furthermore, the lack of trading liquidity prevents ourselves and other institutional shareholders from being able to exit without risk of causing a detrimental impact on the share price. We believe that it would be beneficial for Shanta, its employees, and its other stakeholders to continue its growth and development as a private company.
As part of ETC Holdings, Shanta will benefit from the experience and connections of ETC Holdings and ETG in East Africa and as a result, have additional support during the currently heightened levels of macro-instability.
Anticipating that current pressures on Shanta’s operating market are to persist for the near-term and given the significant technical, financial, regulatory and geopolitical risks, our objective is also to provide liquidity to shareholders to realise their investment for cash at an appropriate premium to the current market value.”
Commenting on the acquisition, Tony Durrant, Chairman of Shanta Gold, said: “Shanta has successfully brought two mines into production since 2013 and has an exciting development project in West Kenya. Whilst the Independent Shanta Directors have confidence in Shanta’s ability to deliver on its business plan and to continue to deliver strong results and growth in the future, this is an all-cash offer at a premium to the current price when the gold price is close to an all-time high. As such it provides an exit opportunity in cash for all shareholders taking into account the current gold price as well as the operational and other risks inherent in the business.”
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