Stratmin Global gets commitment from Bass, amends option...

Stratmin Global gets commitment from Bass, amends option agreements
Fri, 4th Dec 2015 10:09

LONDON (Alliance News) - StratMin Global Resources PLC Friday said it has received funds in relation to Bass Resource's investment into the company's subsidiary, and said it has amended the terms of the agreement which will allow Bass to potentially hold a larger stake than originally agreed.

In early September, Stratmin agreed a farm-in deal with Australian-listed Bass, which has acquired a 25% stake in the subsidiary that holds the Loharano graphite project in Madagascar for GBP2.0 million.

However, Bass was waiting on a court ruling in Australia to secure money from a company which terminated an agreement between the two companies concerning a subscription. Bass won a favourable ruling in that case in November, securing AUD2.5 million in the process.

On Friday, StratMin said it has received GBP277,885 from Bass to date, and said Bass has committed to paying the first tranche totalling GBP500,000 before the end of the year - meaning Bass will pay another GBP222,115 before the end of the month.

If it pays that first tranche, Bass will acquire a 6.25% stake in the business, rising to 25% once the remaining GBP1.5 million balance is paid through a second tranche which Bass has vowed to pay before the end of March 2016.

When StratMin and Bass originally signed the deal earlier this year, Bass was given an option to increase its stake in StratMin's subsidiary by a further 10% before the end of 2015.

However, following the delays in settling the original agreement, StratMin and Bass have now amended the terms of that option. Bass will now be able to acquire a further 15% stake in the subsidiary and StratMin has extended the date by which Bass can exercise that option to the end of April 2016 - but is conditional on the original GBP2.0 million being paid to StratMin before the end of March as agreed.

Under the original terms of the option, the price Bass was set to pay when it exercised the option was to be based on StratMin's share price at the time, but after the amendments StratMin said Bass will now pay a premium to its share price averaged over five days.

The funds that have been and are continuing to trickle through from Bass, will be used by StratMin to progress the joint venture project.