Ascent Resources plc
("Ascent" or "the Company")
Restructuring of Liability to EnQuest
The Board of Ascent is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement with EnQuest PLC ("EnQuest") to restructure a debt of approximately £3million due for repayment in December 2015 into approximately £2million of convertible loan notes.
Background
In December 2010 Ascent entered into an agreement with EnQuest to acquire their 48.75% interest in the Petišovci project in Slovenia. The consideration consisted of:
a) 150,903,958 new Ordinary Shares of 0.1p each in the Company, which were issued fully paid to EnQuest at closing;
b) £14,830 payable in cash for each year between closing and the fifth anniversary of the date of closing payable on 20 December 2015 in total £74,150; and
c) £2,968,000 contingent consideration payable in cash on 20 December 2015.
Terms of restructuring the liability to EnQuest
The total of £3,042,150 was to become due for payment to EnQuest on 20 December 2015 and has now been restructured into £2,038,241 of convertible loan notes.
The terms of these convertible loan notes are identical to the £4million of notes issued in 2014 to Henderson Global Investors ("Henderson") and will benefit from security over the Company's shareholding in Ascent Slovenia Limited which owns an interest in the Petišovci concession.
of the 2014 Loan Notes and those now issued to EnQuest ceased to accrue interest from 1 February 2015, are due for redemption on the earlier of 19 November 2015 or a liquidity event and are convertible into Ordinary Shares of 0.1 pence at the rate of 1,000 shares for every £1 loan note held.
Shareholdings
EnQuest currently holds 160,903,958 Ordinary Shares of 0.1 pence each in the Company which is 9.28% of the issued share capital and 1.37% on a fully diluted basis. Following the issuance of £2,038,241 convertible loan notes, EnQuest will have a 15.95% interest in the fully diluted share capital of the Company. Henderson's fully diluted interest will reduce from 84.28% to 71.82%.
Clive Carver, Chairman of Ascent Resources plc said:
"By restructuring these notes, the Company has removed a significant obstacle to securing further funding for the company and the Petišovci project".
Enquiries:
Ascent Resources plc.
Len Reece / Colin Hutchinson
Tel: +44 (0)20 7251 4905
finnCap (Nominated Adviser and Broker)
Christopher Raggett
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7220 0500
