sale of 25% interest in bowland prospect

X ANNOUNCEMENT/MEDIA RELEASE

AJ LUCAS ANNOUNCES SALE OF 25% INTEREST IN BOWLAND PROSPECT
AJ Lucas Group Limited (ASX: AJL) (Lucas) is pleased to announce that it and its 44% owned associate, Cuadrilla Resources Holdings Limited (Cuadrilla), have together sold a
25% interest in shale gas exploration licence PEDL 165 (the Bowland Joint Venture), located in Lancashire in the UK, to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Centrica plc (Centrica).
The ownership of the Bowland Joint Venture before and after the transaction is summarised as follows:

Owner
Ownership before
transaction
%
Ownership after
transaction
%
Cuadrilla* 75.0 56.25
Lucas 25.0 18.75
Centrica Nil 25.00
100.0
=====
100.0
=====

* Joint Venture Operator
The terms of the transaction require payments as follows:

? Centrica has paid £40 million in cash to acquire subsidiaries of Lucas and Cuadrilla, which together own 25% of the Bowland Project, resulting in proceeds to Lucas of £10 million and to Cuadrilla of £30 million;

? In addition, Centrica has committed to fund £60 million of expenditure (Carry Amount) on the Bowland Joint Venture from the transaction effective date of 1 January 2013. All parties will be liable for their respective proportionate costs once the Carry Amount has been spent;

? Upon the occurrence of one of certain events or lapse of time relating to defined appraisal or operational milestones, Centrica will either exercise an option to put
the companies it has purchased back to Lucas and Cuadrilla for nominal consideration, or pay a further Contingent Consideration to Lucas and Cuadrilla of 15 million and £45 million respectively, totalling £60 million. Based on current planning, Lucas does not expect that any Contingent Consideration would become payable for at least two years.