The LSE share price of Aim- and TSX-V-listed Altus Strategies rose by nearly 27% on Tuesday morning after it announced that private gold investment company La Mancha planned to buy a stake in the company.
Altus and La Mancha have executed a nonbinding letter of intent (LoI) for La Mancha to subscribe for 124.2-million Altus shares at C$0.09 a share, for aggregate gross proceeds of about C$11.1-million.
Altus CEO Steven Poulton said the transaction would “prove transformative for Altus”, and would provide the capital and expertise to fast-track its project and royalty generation activities, as well as unlock new external growth opportunities.
The deal, which includes a two-year equity lock up, also represents a strong endorsement of the Altus team, portfolio and business model, he added.
La Mancha CEO Karim Nasr, meanwhile, commented that the proposed investment in Altus represented the company’s first external investment in the mining exploration space.
“[Our] transformational investment will enable the company to build on those strong foundations to develop Altus into a pre-eminent exploration and royalties company in Africa," he added.
In addition to the proposed La Mancha investment, Altus also announced a proposed nonbrokered private placement of up to 58.5-million shares at a price of C$0.09 a share, to raise gross proceeds of up to C$5.2-million.
The placement will be launched simultaneously with the entry into binding transaction documentation relating to the La Mancha investment but will not be conditional on the La Mancha investment, and is expected to complete shortly after launch.
The La Mancha investment is expected to be completed in January, subject to the receipt of all relevant shareholder and regulatory approvals.