'Enormous access to capital' attracts Aflease to T
`Enormous access to capital` attracts Aflease to Toronto
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Resources Editor
JUNIOR miner Aflease has been lured by the capital-rich Toronto Stock Exchange, and hopes for a Canadian secondary listing by the end of June, CE Neal Froneman said yesterday.
This is part of a radical shakeup of the company that will eventually involve separate listings for its gold and uranium assets, and a 26% empowerment deal for its uranium mine.
The company will also be renamed Aflease Gold and Uranium Resources.
Froneman yesterday said 65% of the stock was now held offshore, and also said that the Kebbles` Randgold & Exploration`s stake had tumbled from 33% of Aflease in October to just 3% .
He said that Aflease had considered upgrading its existing Nasdaq listing to boost its offshore profile, but had opted instead for an additional listing in Toronto, where the regulatory requirements were less onerous.
`We believe that Toronto is more appropriate for companies like ours, as the access to capital is enormous,` he said.
Froneman said Aflease would need to raise up to $100m for its Dominion uranium project, of which up to $20m would be required this year. This would be raised mainly through equity.
However, Froneman said that in order to obtain a prospecting permit, a 26% empowerment stake was needed in the uranium operation, and a consortium was being put together, and would include its existing empowerment partners Kabusha and Sandile Zungu`s African Vanguard Resources.
Froneman said the Dominion empowerment deal should be announced next month .
He said that he expected the unbundling of the company to take place about nine months from now but first a solution would be required for its dormant Modder East gold mine.
This could involve selling the mine , or merging the mine with another listed gold vehicle.
Froneman said the most likely possibility would be that Aflease would acquire additional gold resources to give its gold portfolio the necessary weight to justify a separate listing.
`We will probably solve this through mergers and acquisitions,` he said.
Froneman said that some gold assets could come on the market after a merger, if any, between Harmony and Gold Fields . `We would support being part of something that may happen from that we do have operational expertise to offer,` he said.
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