The UK-based Caracal Gold Plc has stated its plans to list in a Ksh2-billion IPO ($18.42 million) on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), African Market reported.
Thomas leads the company’s board as non-executive chairman.
Caracal was formed to acquire and develop underexploited gold mining opportunities in East Africa, with the mid-term goal of producing 50,000 ounces of gold per annum.
Caracal is an East Africa-focused gold producer with established resources above 2 million ounces. The latest proposal comes on the back of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s three-day visit to the UK.
Formerly called Goldplat, the company assumed a new name when Mayflower, through a reverse listing,* agreed to buy the lossmaking East African asset Kilimapesa Mines Kenya for $1.5 million in shares last October.
The proposed listing would make it the second company to have a dual listing on the NSE and London Stock Exchange. It further emphasized a bilateral trade agreement between the UK and Kenya to boost trade to the tune of KSh 200 billion ($1.84 billion) per annum.
The company, which focuses on optimizing its existing producing assets, has appointed Faida Investment Bank to double as its financial adviser and joint broker.
Faida will team up with the UK-based VSA Capital Limited, which has been appointed as a corporate broker and financial adviser to Caracal, to advise it as to listing with the NSE’s Growth Enterprise Market Segment through introduction.
Kenyan regulators, the Capital Markets Authority and the NSE are expected to approve the listing of Caracal, with its shares to start trading on the NSE in September 2021.
Kilimapesa Mines
The Kilimapesa gold mine has a declared joint ore reserves committee resource of 670,000 ounces. The mine operates a three-adit** asset, with fairly extensive underground development and a 6,000-ounce-per-year production, which can increase substantially.
*Reverse listing is when a private company purchases a publicly-traded company and shifts its management into the latter. It also involves typically renaming the publicly traded company.
**Adit is an entrance to an underground mine that is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, and minerals extracted at the lowest convenient level.
