BWA Group Plc - Subscription for New Shares & Holdings in the Company

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF REGULATION 11 OF THE MARKET ABUSE (AMENDMENT) (EU EXIT) REGULATIONS 2019/310.

30 June 2023

BWA Group PLC

 (“BWA” or the “Company”)    

Subscription for New Shares

Holdings in the Company

 

BWA Group plc [AQSE: BWAP], which has mineral exploration licences in both Cameroon and Canada at various stages of development and is quoted on London’s AQSE Growth Market, is pleased to announce that it has raised £175,000 through the subscription of new ordinary shares of 0.5 pence each (“Ordinary Shares”) from existing shareholders (the “Subscription”).

 

Under the subscription, a total of 35,000,000 new Ordinary Shares at a price of 0.5 pence per share (“Subscription Shares”) will be issued. It is expected that the funds raised under the Subscription will be utilised for general working capital purposes.

 

The subscriptions are from three existing significant shareholders, Mike Cass, Jonathan Wearing and former Chairman Richard Battersby. This step is regarded by the board of directors (the “Board”) as the first in a series of steps, initially to provide the Company with adequate working capital for the immediate future, and thereafter, to provide the necessary investment and funding to enable BWA, via its Cameroon operations to achieve Initial Mineral Resource Estimates (MRE), and Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), prepared and reported in accordance with JORC Code (2012).

 

The Board has received initial indications of funding support from the above major shareholders, who on their own or together with other investors, will provide the necessary funding so to enable BWA to significantly advance its five Cameroon Heavy Mineral Sands licences.

 

 

Shareholder	Amount Subscribed	Current Shareholding	Subscription Shares	Enlarged Shareholding	% of Enlarged Share Capital
D M Cass	£81,250	33,532,022	16,250,000	49,782,022	10.02%
J Wearing 1	£81,250	20,290,000	16,250,000	36,540,000	7.36%
R Battersby 2	£12,500	94,676,314	2,500,000	97,176,314	19.57%

 

1. Mr Wearing’s holding includes Tricastle Investments Limited, a company he controls.
2. Mr Battersby’s holding include shares held by The Bank of New York (Nominees) Limited and CGWM Nominees Limited as nominees for Bath Group Limited and Second Neric Limited, both of which companies he controls.

 

As Mr Battersby has an existing interest in more than 10% of the Company’s Ordinary Shares, the Subscription constitutes a related party transaction under the AQSE Growth Market Access Rules.  The Board has concluded, having exercised reasonable care, skill and diligence, that the related party transactions are fair and reasonable as far as the shareholders of the Company are concerned.

 

The Subscription Shares will be allotted under the Company’s existing unspent share issue authorities and are expected to be admitted to trading on the AQSE Growth Market on 6 July 2023 (“Admission”).  On Admission, the Company will have 496,658,507 Ordinary Shares in issue, each with one voting right. The Company does not hold any shares in treasury and therefore the total number of voting rights in the Company is 496,658,507. This figure should be used by shareholders from Admission 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 Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

 

 

The Board are responsible for the contents of this announcement.

 

Ends -

For further information: 

BWA Group PLC James Butterfield Interim Chairman	+44 7770 225253 enquiries@bwagroupplc.com
Allenby Capital Limited Corporate Adviser  Nick Harriss/Lauren Wright	+44 20 3328 5656

 

Note

Heavy Mineral Sands are typically predominantly Rutile, Ilmenite, Kyanite and Zircon, which all have significant uses in present manufacturing, energy storage, paint, and medical and EV’s and for which there is significant and growing demand:

Rutile - Natural rutile is the cleanest, purest form of titanium dioxide and titanium minerals are sold as pigments for plastics, paper and paints, but also growing market in titanium metals and for EV’s, medical equipment and welding products.

Ilmenite – A Secondary source of titanium after processing.

Zircon - Growing demand for industries in consumer electronics and ceramics.

Kyanite - Refractories used in ceramics, precision castings, and refractory additives and most recently in geothermal heat storage facilities.