Petra Diamonds up for sale; Rothschild advising
26 JUN 2020
Petra Diamonds [LON:PDL], a South-Africa focused diamond miner, has today (26 June), initiated a formal sale process.
The company will seek offers for entirety or assets of the group.
The company has taken this decision pursuant to its strategic review, in relation to its USD 650m outstanding 7.25% senior secured notes, which are due for repayment on 1 May 2022, and to maximise shareholder value.
Rothschild & Co is advising the company on the sale process.
Press release:
Since commencing the strategic review in relation to its capital structure options as announced on 27 March 2020, the Company has focused on exploring all options available to it in relation to its $650 million outstanding 7.25% senior secured notes which are due for repayment on 1 May 2022. Pursuant to this strategic review and in order to assess all strategic options to maximise value to its stakeholders, the Board of Petra Diamonds Limited announces today that it has decided to seek offers for the Company, or for parts of the business or assets of the Petra Diamonds group (the "Group").
The Company is not in receipt of any offer for the Company or any parts of the Group’s business or assets at the time of this announcement.
Parties with a potential interest in making a proposal should contact the Company’s advisers, Rothschild & Co (contact details as set out below).
It is currently expected that any party interested in participating in the formal sale process will receive certain publicly available information on Petra as part of Phase One, following which interested parties shall be invited to submit their proposals to Rothschild & Co. Upon receipt of any proposals, the Company and its advisers will determine (at their sole discretion) whether to progress any interested parties into a formal Phase Two sale process. A formal sale process will require interested parties to enter into a confidentiality agreement with the Company on terms satisfactory to the Board of Petra and on the same terms, in all material respects, as other interested parties. Further announcements regarding the timing for any formal Phase Two sale process will be made when appropriate.
There can be no certainty that any offer will be made for Petra or for any parts of the business or assets of the Group, nor that any transaction will be executed, nor as to the terms of any such offer or transaction.
The Board of Petra reserves the right to alter or terminate this process at any time and in such an event, the Company will make an announcement as appropriate. The Board of Petra also reserves the right to reject any approach or terminate discussions with any interested party at any time.
The UK City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the "Takeover Code") does not apply to Petra and any formal sale process would not be subject to the jurisdiction of, or regulated by, the UK Panel on Takeovers and Mergers. Petra has however incorporated certain takeover related provisions into the Company's Bye-laws and the Board of Petra would seek to apply the principles of the Takeover Code in relation to any offer for the Company.
The Company will continue to update all stakeholders on this process and other aspects of the strategic review as and when appropriate.
