Gold Oil PLC
02 November 2007
For immediate release 2 November 2007
Gold Oil plc ('Gold', or 'The Company')
Gold announces the disposal of its interest in Minmet plc
On 2 October 2007, Minmet plc (Minmet) agreed to terminate the contractual
arrangements relating to Gold's Cuban oil exploration interests (and the other
territories) between Gold and Minmet leaving Gold free to pursue its plans
without the involvement of Minmet.
The consideration is that Gold Oil plc will deposit 8,300,000 ordinary Minmet
shares with a broker for the shares to be placed in the market and the proceeds
distributed to Minmet and Minmet will deposit 22,950,000 ordinary shares in Gold
with a broker for the shares to be placed in the market and the proceeds
distributed to Gold. Both sets of shares are subject to lock in arrangements
until February 2008, but such restriction may be lifted with the consent of the
appropriate Nomad. The timing of the disposal of the Gold Oil shares will be
decided by Gold Oil.
In a separate transaction, but spurred by the first, Westcoast Group Limited has
agreed to purchase 4,450,000 shares in Minmet from Gold Oil plc and 10,000,000
ordinary Minmet shares from Gold Oil Caribbean Limited for a consideration of 18
pence per share giving a total consideration of £2,601,000. Having no further
investment interest in Minmet Michael Burchell and Gary Moore have each resigned
from the Board of Minmet.
Gary Moore, Gold's CEO, said:
'When opportunities in the US were identified by Minmet, then clearly the US and
Cuba could not be pursued by the same company and this acted as a catalyst for
the companies to unwind the transactions agreed in February of this year. It was
never our intention to sell out of Minmet this early, but with the recapture of
our Cuban exploration interests together with the rights over the other
territories and realizing substantial proceeds out of the transaction in only 9
months we decided this was too good an opportunity to miss. This makes
additional funds available for other opportunities that will ensure the
continued growth of the Company without recourse to shareholders.'
Given the commonality of directorships, namely that Michael Burchell and Gary
Moore directors of Gold are also non-executive directors of Minmet, in
conjunction with the cross-holdings - being Gold's holding of 24.76% in Minmet,
and Minmet's holding of 4.9% in Gold - the transaction is being treated as
'related party' under the AIM Rules for Companies. Accordingly, Patrick Mahony,
being the independent director, having consulted with the nominated adviser,
considers that the terms of the transaction are fair and reasonable insofar as
the Company's shareholders are concerned.
Trading in the Company's shares was suspended on 11 October 2007, pending the
announcement of this transaction. Accordingly Gold has requested that trading
resumes with immediate effect.
For further information, please contact:
Enquiries:
Gary Moore CEO Tel: +44 (0)1737830133
Email: gmoore@goldoilplc.com
Mike Burchell Chairman Tel. +44 (0) 1372361772
Email: mikeburchell@hotmail.com
Roland Cornish Beaumont Cornish Limited Tel: 020 7628 3396.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange