VSA Capital Group - Admission to Trading on the AQSE Growth Market

DATE: 9 September 2021

VSA Capital Group plc

("VSA", the "Company" or together with its subsidiaries the "Group")

Admission to Trading on the AQSE Growth Market

VSA Capital Group plc, an international investment banking and broking firm, with offices in London and Shanghai, is pleased to announce that its entire issued share capital of 19,428,966 ordinary shares of 1p ("Ordinary Shares") will commence trading on the Access segment of the Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market ("AQSE Growth Market") at 8 am (UK time) today ("Admission").  The Ordinary Shares will trade under the ticker VSA and ISIN number GB00BMXR4K91.

Alfred Henry Corporate Finance Limited is acting as the Aquis Stock Exchange Corporate Adviser to the Company.

Subscription

Subject to Admission, the Company has raised gross proceeds of £252,560 (the "Subscription") through the issue of 1,202,666 Ordinary Shares ("Subscription Shares") to a limited number of qualifying investors, at a price of 21p per share (the "Subscription Price").

Andrew Monk, CEO of VSA, said: "It is an exciting day for any company to start trading on a London stock market and at VSA we are delighted to be listing on Aquis, the growth market for companies listing in London.  We hope many of our future clients follow our path and enjoy the same success.  VSA is listing as it is now in a position to take the next steps in its growth trajectory and become a much more significant player in the capital markets."

Company Information

VSA is an international investment banking and broking firm, with offices in London and Shanghai, providing corporate finance, advisory and capital markets services to private and public companies. VSA's focus is on providing an independent, solutions-driven service to clients across multiple sectors with a particular focus on natural resources, transitional energy, alternative energy, technology, media and telecoms (TMT) and the consumer and leisure sectors.

VSA acts as retained adviser or broker to listed or quoted companies on various exchanges, and many of its clients are capitalised at over £100m. 

VSA's longstanding focus on the natural resources sector has resulted in long-lasting and deep relationships across the world particularly in Asia and Africa as well as a strong understanding of the cultural nuances associated with doing business in each. This sector focus has meant that VSA has been an early mover in the transitional energy space and has leading expertise in executing capital markets strategies across the full battery storage supply chain.

VSA also owns minority stakes in Benjiami Limited ("Benjiami") a cryptocurrency and blockchain focused investment house, Pure Reports Limited ("Pure Reports") a research, consulting, and advisory business to companies engaged in blockchain activities and Shanghai Mining Club Limited ("Shanghai Mining Club") a forum to connect western mining companies with the broader Chinese investment community.

As well as VSA's permanent presence in Shanghai it has joint venture partnerships with Faida Investment Bank Limited ("Faida") a leading investment bank regulated by the Capital Markets Authority in Kenya and with Moshe Capital Pty Ltd ("Moshe Capital") an advisory and investment firm, regulated by the Financial Services Board in South Africa, that advises and invests in African companies.

Details of Directors

The full names of the Directors of the Company and positions are as follows:

Andrew Anthony Monk, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer

Andrew's stockbroking career spans over 36 years. In that time, he has built up strong relationships with many major global institutions and has a conducted a wealth of financial transactions in a wide range of sectors.

He is the current Chief Executive Officer of VSA Capital Limited.  He began his career at Stock Beech in Bristol in 1984, moving to Scott Goff Layton (which became Smith New Court, Merrill Lynch and now Bank of America).  He subsequently joined Schroder Securities and then ABN AMRO Hoare Govett for 11 years before founding Oriel Securities as Joint Chief Executive Officer and is a former Chief Executive Officer of Blue Oar Securities plc.

His current directorships include non-executive director of Anglo African Agriculture plc, an African producer and supplier of agricultural products, executive director of Benjiami, a crypto investment bank and executive chairman of Shanghai Mining Club Limited.  Andrew graduated with a degree in Chemistry from Oriel College, Oxford.  He holds the FCA Controlled Functions SMF1 and SMF3.

Andrew Joseph Raca, Executive Director and Head of Corporate Finance

Andrew has over 30 years' experience in a broad range of corporate finance advisory, fundraising and equity capital markets activities.  He joined Andrew Monk at VSA Capital Limited in 2011, having worked previously together when he was Head of Corporate Finance at Blue Oar Securities plc.

He started his career in corporate finance and banking at Barclays de Zoete Wedd and then worked in his family's manufacturing and logistics businesses with operations in Central and Eastern Europe.  Subsequently he went on to hold senior positions in Corporate Finance at Albert E Sharp Securities, Arthur Andersen, Ernst & Young (where he became Head of the regional Capital Markets Advisory practice), Arden Partners, Libertas Capital, Blue Oar Securities and Shore Capital. Andrew is a director of Shanghai Mining Club Limited.  Andrew graduated with a degree in Politics from the University of Bristol.  He holds the FCA Controlled Function SMF3.

Marcia Manarin, Executive Director, Company Secretary and Finance Director

Marcia started her career in the financial industry working for Bradesco in Sao Paulo, Brazil and relocated to London in 2001. Since arriving in the United Kingdom, Marcia qualified as a chartered accountant in 2008 (CIMA) and has worked in senior roles in both Finance and Operations within both energy and financial services sectors, including Tristone Capital (Macquarie Group) and FirstEnergy/GMP Capital (acquired by Stifel in Dec/2019).

Marcia graduated with a degree from Faculdades Integradas Alcântara Machado - Faculdades de Artes Alcântara Machado. Marcia holds the FCA Controlled Functions SMF3, SMF16 and SMF17.

Mark David Crawford Steeves, Independent Non-Executive Chairman

Mark began his business career as a shipbroker, before becoming joint owner of a marine consultancy and ship management company, which was sold to Aminex plc. Following the sale, he ran Aminex's procurement and oilfield service business, Amossco Ltd. In 2002, he joined HSBC Insurance Brokers as a Business Development Director, eventually becoming Head of Energy, then, Head of Africa, before HSBC sold its insurance subsidiary in March 2010.

Mark then established Samphire & Associates Ltd, a consultancy and advisory services business focused on African related businesses.  He served on the board Britain Nigeria Business Council (2007 to 2009), the Business Council for Africa (2009 to 2015), Resolution Insurance (2014 to 2015), Phoenix Africa Development Co Ltd (2010 to 2019) and Leon Africa (2012 to 2016). Mark has also been a mentor for the Women-Led Business Programme run by Femmes Africa Solidarité and, until 2020, served on the advisory board of Moshe Capital, a South African Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment woman owned advisory and investment firm.  Mark holds the FCA Controlled Function SMF9.

Ruiwen (Andy) Chen, Independent Non-Executive Director

Andy has over 10 years' experience as a project consultant to small and growing public companies. He has considerable experience in a number of sectors, and advising on corporate governance for quoted companies. In 2018, Andy founded VFund (Jersey), an alternative investment fund specializing in Scotch whisky investment. VFund is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC). In addition, VFund has set up a private whisky experience centre in London.  Over the years, Andy has introduced a number of cross-border investments from Asia to the UK.  He worked as a financial analyst for IBM UK in his early career and is currently a director of several companies.  Andy gained a master's degree in Management with Marketing from the University of Bath.

Sector Classification:

The Company will be classified as a financial services company on the Aquis Exchange Growth Market.

Registered office and principal place of business:

The Company's head office and primary place of business is located at New Liverpool House, 15-17 Eldon Street, London EC2M 7LD.

Company website:

www.vsacapital.com

Admission Document

The Company's admission document is available to view on its website www.vsacapital.com

This announcement, together with any documents incorporated by reference, shall be deemed to constitute an admission document for the purposes of the AQSE Growth Market Rules for Issuers - Access. It has not been approved or reviewed by the Aquis Stock Exchange or the Financial Conduct Authority.

For more information, please contact: