Timis group to raise 63.8m
AFRICA Minerals Limited, the exploration group chaired by the colourful Frank Timis, has raised £63.8m after a placing of shares with institutional investors.
Africa Minerals says it is placing 25.54m shares at a price of 250p each to help it undertake further drilling at its iron ore project in Sierra Leone.
“The group has got two good iron ore assets in Sierra Leone but it really needs the money to develop them because right now they are just hunks of deposit,” said one follower of the group.
Timis, who is backed by a small group of powerful City fund management groups – which include BlackRock, Capital Research and Prudential – said: “The proceeds will allow us to develop the magnetite iron ore resource towards our target of 10bn tonnes and….to create substantial value for our shareholders.”
“We’re delighted the company managed to pull this off,” said Mike Jones of Canaccord, the company’s adviser.
Timis is no stranger to controversy. His Regal Petroleum company enjoyed a 10-fold increase in its share price on exaggerated suggestions it was close to finding a massive oil field off the coast of Greece.