TIDMSAV
RNS Number : 1410M
Savannah Resources PLC
12 September 2023
12 September 2023
Savannah Resources Plc
(AIM: SAV, FWB: SAV and SWB: SAV) ('Savannah' or the
'Company')
Appointment of Chief Executive Officer and Non-Executive
Directors
Savannah Resources plc, the European lithium development
company, is pleased to announce that, following an extensive
selection process, Mr Emanuel Proença has been appointed as the
Company's new Chief Executive Officer ('CEO'). Emanuel is
Savannah's first Portuguese CEO and will be based in Lisbon and
will commence his role on 18 September 2023.
Dale Ferguson, Savannah's current Interim CEO, will return to
his previous role as Savannah's Technical Director to lead the
ongoing technical development of the Barroso Lithium Project (the
"Project"). He will also retain his seat on the Company's
Board.
The Company also welcomes two new Non-Executive Directors. Bruce
Griffin joins as an Independent Non-Executive Director, while
Mohamed Sulaiman joins as Non-Executive Director, replacing the
retiring Imad Sultan (Non-Executive Director since July 2016) as
the Board representative of Savannah's largest shareholder, Al
Marjan Ltd ("Al Marjan"). These changes are effective
immediately.
Highlights
-- Emanuel brings to Savannah a wealth of Portuguese and
international business and leadership experience gained across a
range of relevant industries and disciplines, including energy,
tech investment, and management consultancy
-- He joins Savannah from his role as CEO of Prio's industrial
businesses. Prio is one of Portugal's 20 largest companies, and the
country's largest green fuels and biodiesel producer, and its
second largest provider of electricity for mobility and a network
of charging points
-- At Prio, Emanuel's responsibilities included being CEO of
multiple subsidiaries which generated over EUR1.5 billion in
revenue and accounted for approximately 80% of the group's
profitability in 2022
-- As Savannah's first Portuguese CEO, located in Lisbon,
Emanuel will give Savannah a constant high-level presence in the
Portuguese business, political and media ecosystems
-- Mr Proença's appointment as CEO will initially be in a
Non-Board capacity. The Company envisages that Mr Proença will
formally join Savannah's Board during H1 2024
-- Dale Ferguson returns to his previous role as Technical
Director, having led the company over the past 15 months. During
that time the Company received the endorsement ('DIA') for the
Barroso Lithium Project from the Portuguese environmental regulator
and published a new positive Scoping Study on the Project, based on
the approved design
-- New Independent Non-Executive Director Bruce Griffin brings
over 20 years of mining sector experience to Savannah's Board. This
includes recent mining project construction and commissioning
experience gained on the 10Mtpa Thunderbird minerals sands project
in Australia in his role as the Executive Chair of Sheffield
Resources
-- Al Marjan's newly designated Non-Executive Director, Mohamed
Sulaiman, is Head of Strategy at the Omani conglomerate business,
Towell Group, and has significant experience on the Boards of both
public and private companies, and in the energy sector
Matthew King, Savannah's Chairman said: "I am delighted to
announce the appointment of Emanuel Proença as Chief Executive
Officer of Savannah Resources, and that Bruce Griffin and Mohammed
Sulaiman have agreed to join the Board as Non-Executive
Directors.
"Emanuel Proença is joining us from Prio Group, which is the
largest producer and supplier of biofuels in Portugal and where, as
CEO of Prio Supply, he has grown EBITDA by 20 times in 6 years. In
that role, he has developed skills in managing a rapidly growing
business, which are highly transferable to Savannah. He has also
developed excellent relations with the Portuguese Government,
industry regulators, commercial partners in the energy sector, and
service providers. He also has a strong record of maintaining a
constructive rapport with local communities and other stakeholders.
Emanuel has an ideal executive profile for Savannah as we look to
take our Barroso Lithium Project through to production.
"To complement Savannah's sole focus and commitment to Portugal,
as Savannah's first Portuguese CEO, located in Lisbon, Emanuel will
provide the Company with the constant high-level presence in the
country's business, political and media ecosystems which it has not
enjoyed to date. The Board and I all look forward to working with
him.
"My great appreciation goes to Dale Ferguson, who led us so
successfully through the last 15 months as Interim CEO. Alongside
an orderly handover of responsibilities to Emanuel, Dale will
resume his former role as Savannah's Technical Director and will
lead the work programmes which we have underway on the Project's
environmental licencing and Definitive Feasibility Study.
"Remaining with the Board, we give our thanks to Imad Sultan who
is stepping down as Non-Executive Director after seven years of
valuable service and contribution as the representative of Al
Marjan. We welcome Mohamed Sulaiman as his replacement and look
forward to benefiting from his significant experience gained on the
Boards of other public and private companies. Finally, we also
welcome Bruce Griffin as an additional, independent Non-Executive
Director who will add to the Board's skills base with his 20 years
of experience in the mining sector."
Emanuel Proença, Savannah's new CEO said "I am excited to join
Savannah as CEO, to help the Company achieve its target of becoming
a responsible lithium producer in Portugal and a cornerstone
element of Europe's rapidly growing lithium battery and electric
mobility value chain. I am pleased with the quality of the Project
and the robustness of the work done to date. I appreciate that the
proposed development is a concern to some stakeholders. Hence, I
will make it a priority of my mandate to work on the understanding
between all parties involved, as we speed up a project that will be
essential for the development of the region, the attraction of
value for our country and the acceleration of a responsible and
much needed energy transition for Europe and the World ."
"Society must move as quickly as it can to tackle the
environmental, social and economic damage being caused by climate
change, and to seize the new opportunities created in our evolving
economy."
Bruce Griffin, non-executive director said: "I am excited to
join Savannah as it embarks on the development phase of the Barroso
Lithium Project; a new, European, source of lithium. I hope to
apply my experience of the successful funding and on time and
budget delivery of the Thunderbird project to ensure a similar
positive outcome for Savannah."
Mohamed Sulaiman, non-executive director said: "I am honoured to
contribute to Europe's energy self-sufficiency journey through
Savannah's development of lithium resources in northern Portugal. I
hope to bring energy, mobility and sustainability knowledge and
experience, and international perspective to the Barroso Lithium
Project. I am really excited to be part of such an important energy
transition undertaking at such a unique time."
Further information
Biographies
Emanuel Dâmaso Rodrigues Brinquete Proença
Emanuel Proença is an experienced business executive and an
expert in energy transition in mobility. He has a strong track
record of managing transformation and generating growth within
sectors including, green fuels production and market development,
electrification of mobility, liquid fuels hedging, trading,
logistics and retail of liquid fuels, and digitalisation. He holds
an MBA from INSEAD (Singapore, USA/Wharton and France) and a
Master's degree in industrial engineering and management from
Instituto Superior Técnico (Portugal).
As a leader within the PRIO Group, Emanuel's role encompassed
key responsibilities starting from transforming PRIO Parque de
Tanques (a small loss-making logistics business) into PRIO Supply,
a complete fuel trading and blending arm that is now the group's
largest company. He went on to oversee PRIO Bio, revamp PRIO Gas,
and build pivotal transformation functions within PRIO Energy.
Under his strategic guidance and management, PRIO more than tripled
revenues and profitability in 7 years, surpassing EUR1.5 billion in
revenues in 2022, making it one of Portugal's 20 largest
corporations. The company cemented its prominence as Portugal's
leader in green energy for mobility through being number one in
green fuels and biodiesel and number two in the sale of electricity
for mobility.
Prior to his role at PRIO, Emanuel was CEO at Grupo Piedade, the
third-largest cork stopper producer globally, in which he
co-orchestrated a successful financial and operational turnaround
for the company before supporting its sale to the French industrial
conglomerate, Oeneo. He also spent time with Armilar Venture
Partners, a prominent Iberian deep tech venture capital fund
manager.
Emanuel started his career at The Boston Consulting Group,
working for 7 years in the Portugal and Brazil offices, on
assignments in a variety of industries and in geographies including
Spain, France, the UK and India.
Emanuel co-founded and is the President at the Associação de
Bioenergia Avançada, a non-profit association with the fundamental
concern of promoting bioenergy as a key sector to accelerate the
energy transition and a more circular economy. He sees green fuels
and green gases as critical partners of the electromobility and
critical materials value chains in the gigantic task of fully
decarbonising mobility and the economy over the coming decades.
Bruce John Griffin
Mr Griffin is an experienced resources industry professional, he
is currently Executive Chair of Sheffield Resources (ASX.SFX) and a
Non-Executive Director of CVW CleanTech (CVW.TSXV) and Mawson Gold
Limited (MAW.TSX). He recently held several Chief Executive and
senior management roles with mineral sands and titanium dioxide
pigment companies. Prior roles include executive, commercial,
strategy and management consulting positions with BHP, Graincorp
and Bain & Company, which followed a 9-year career with Shell.
He holds undergraduate degrees in chemical engineering and
economics, as well as a Master of Business Administration.
The following information is disclosed pursuant to Schedule Two,
paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.
Mr Bruce John Griffin (a dual British and New Zealand citizen
residing in the UK) aged 55, currently holds or has held the
following directorships and partnerships in the last five
years:
Current Directorships / Partnerships Former Directorships / Partnerships
within the last 5 years
CVW CleanTech Inc.
------------------------------------
Sheffield Resources Ltd
------------------------------------
Mawson Gold Ltd
------------------------------------
Mr Bruce Griffin does not currently hold any ordinary shares in
the Company.
There is no further information to be disclosed pursuant to
paragraph (g) of Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules.
Mohamed Sadiq Jawad Sulaiman
Mohamed Sulaiman is the Head of Strategy at the Towell Group. He
has worked in the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman
during his career. Prior to joining the Towell Group, Mohamed led
Strategy and Performance at OQ, the Omani energy company. He has
served on the Boards of both public and private companies during
his career to date. Mohamed holds a Master of Arts, International
Development f ulfilling requirements for Master of Arts in
Economics, and was a Tinker Walker International Research Fellow
and a United Nations Association Fellow.
The following information is disclosed pursuant to Schedule Two,
paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.
Mr Mohamed Sadiq Jawad Sulaiman (an Omani national residing in
the Sultanate of Oman), aged 49, currently holds or has held the
following directorships and partnerships in the last five
years:
Current Directorships / Partnerships Former Directorships / Partnerships
within the last 5 years
Alargan Towell Investment Company Abraj Energy Services SAOG (formerly
WLL Abraj Energy Services SAOC)
Global Logistics Oman LLC
-------------------------------------
Mr Mohamed Sulaiman does not currently hold any ordinary shares
in the Company.
On joining the Company Mr Sulaiman becomes a member of the
Nomination Committee.
There is no further information to be disclosed pursuant to
paragraph (g) of Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules.
Pending Issue of Share Options
Mr Proença was appointed following an extensive head-hunter
search, and leaves his existing role in the middle of the annual
bonus cycle. He has elected to have his signing-on settled in the
form of share options over the Company's ordinary shares ("Share
Options"), rather than in cash. He is also being awarded Share
Options under the Company's Long Term Incentive Plan. Currently the
Company is in a close period pending the publication of Interim
Results later this month, but it has committed to granting Mr
Proença 20,000,000 Share Options, applying the same parameters as
previous Share Option grants from June 2021, once the Company is no
longer in a close period and following the completion of Portuguese
administrative matters, as follows:
-- The Share Options' duration is eight years, with a vesting period of three years
-- The Share Options are to be granted in two equal tranches,
with all conditions identical except for the exercise price. The
exercise price on these newly granted Share Options shall be as
follows:
o Tranche 1 - GBP0.0468 (4.68 pence) which represents the higher
of the 20% premium to Savannah's closing share price on 11
September 2023 and the exercise price of the Share Options
announced on 30 June 2021.
o Tranche 2 - GBP0.0624 (6.24 pence) which represents the higher
of a 60% premium to Savannah's closing share price on 11 September
2023 and the exercise price of the Share Options announced on 30
June 2021
Regulatory Information
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it
forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union
(Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with
the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.
**ENDS**
Follow @SavannahRes on X (Formerly known as Twitter)
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For further information please visit www.savannahresources.com
or contact:
Savannah Resources PLC Tel: +44 20 7117 2489
Dale Ferguson, Technical Director and Interim
CEO
Emanuel Proença, CEO (from 18 September
2023)
Tel: +44 20 3470 0470
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nominated Advisor
& Joint Broker)
David Hignell/ Charlie Bouverat (Corporate Finance)
Grant Barker/Abigail Wayne (Sales & Broking)
RBC Capital Markets (Joint Broker) Tel: +44 20 7653 4000
Farid Dadashev/ Jamil Miah
Tel: +44 20 3757 4980
Camarco (Financial PR)
Gordon Poole/ Emily Hall / Fergus Young
LPM (Portugal Media Relations) Tel: +351 218 508 110
Herminio Santos/ Jorge Coelho
About Savannah
Savannah Resources is a mineral resource development company and
sole owner of the Barroso Lithium Project in northern Portugal.
Savannah is focused on the responsible development and operation
of the Barroso Lithium Project so that its impact on the
environment is minimised and the socio-economic benefits that it
can bring to all its stakeholders are maximised. Through the
Barroso Lithium Project, Savannah can help Portugal to play an
important role in providing a long-term, locally sourced, lithium
raw material supply for Europe's rapidly developing lithium battery
value chain. Production is targeted to begin in 2026, producing
enough lithium for approximately half a million vehicle battery
packs per year.
The Company is listed and regulated on AIM and the Company's
ordinary shares are also available on the Quotation Board of the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FWB) under the symbol FWB: SAV, and the
Börse Stuttgart (SWB) under the ticker "SAV".
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END
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