By Ian Walker
Shares of Bluebird Merchant Ventures rose as much as 24% in early trade after the company said Catalyse Capital is buying Southern Gold’s 17.8% shareholding in the company.
The U.K.-listed, South Korea-focused gold miner said Wednesday that Catalyse–a long-running and supportive shareholder of the company–is buying an initial 22.5 million shares in Bluebird at 0.55 pence each.
It will then buy Southern Gold’s remaining 100 million shares between September and December in blocks of 25 million shares, priced at 75% of each month’s volume-weighted average price and a floor price of 0.4 pence.
Southern Gold has been selling down its shares as part of a plan to focus on its battery technologies and critical minerals exploration in South Korea, rather than gold. It has already sold 26.25 million Bluebird shares.
Bluebird Chief Executive Colin Patterson said the board welcomes the staged transaction to exit Southern Gold from the company’s register.
“The board and investors can now focus on the positives of the business, the securing of the mountain temporary use permits for both the Gubong and Kochang historic gold mines and the progress being made by our Philippine JV partner at Batangas where it is finalizing the eagerly awaited drill plan, a campaign which we believe will further quantify the project’s excellent potential,” Patterson said.
Shares at 0757 GMT were up 0.10 pence, or 16%, at 0.73 pence, having reached 0.78 pence earlier in the session.
Write to Ian Walker at [email protected]
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