Rubicon Diversified Investments Plc (LSE:RUBI) announced on Friday that it has raised £400,000 through a firm placing of 4,000,000 shares and a conditional placing of 36,000,000 shares at 1p with Lonrho Plc and some high net worth investors. Shares in the company rose 225% to 2.6p before the markets closed for the weekend.
The conditional placing is contingent on the passing of various measures at the general meeting of the company shareholders, which is scheduled to take place on 13 December 2011. It has been agreed to purchase the same portion of the firm placing and the conditional placing once the measures are passed.
Dealings are set to commence on 24 November for the firm shares and 14 December for the conditional shares.
According to the statement, the placing shares will represent about 53.7% of the issued ordinary share of the company as enlarged by the placing. Lonrho Plc will own approximately 12.7% of the company.
Plans for Raised Capital
The proceeds of the issuance of stock will be used for due diligence on potential investment opportunities consistent with their new strategy of seeking an acquisition in the global aviation industry with a particular focus on Africa. The remainder of the funding will be used for working capital purposes.
The company also announced that, conditional upon the passing of certain resolutions at the general meeting, Mr David Lenigas and Mr Geoffrey White, respectively Executive Chairmanand CEO of Lonrho Plc, will join the Board of Directors.
Resolutions To Be Passed
Resolutions that will be up for a vote during the General Meeting include:
- To give the Directors the authority to allot securities in the capital of the company up to £6,500,000.
- To dis-apply the pre-emption rights over securities that the directors have.
- To adopt the new investing policy geared towards aviation in Africa.
- To grant 6,000,000 options to current directors of the company.
- To approve the appointment of the Lonrho Executive Chairman and CEO to the board of Rubicon.
Rubicon Chairman Comments
Robert Burnham, Chairman of Rubicon commented on the news:
“We are delighted to announce this significant step forward in the strategy of Rubicon. We are particularly pleased to be initiating a relationship with Lonrho PLC to focus on investments in the global aviation and aviation services sector which we believe has excellent opportunities for us to exploit. We are proud to welcome David Lenigas and Geoffrey White to the Board, and we look forward to working with them through a period of intensive due diligence activity as we progress our new investing policy. We are confident that in the coming months, assisted by our new shareholders and Board members, we will be able to identify one or more suitable opportunities for acquisition, and we look forward to building the Company into a significant participant in the global aviation and aviation services sector.”
References
↑ Rubicon Press Release