TIDMUPL
RNS Number : 4379D
Upland Resources Limited
31 January 2018
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART
IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA OR JAPAN
This announcement is not an offer for sale, or a solicitation of
an offer to acquire, securities in any jurisdiction, including in
or into the United States, Canada, Australia, or Japan. Neither
this announcement nor any part of it shall form the basis of or be
relied on in connection with or act as an inducement to enter into
any contract or commitment whatsoever.
31 January 2018
UPLAND RESOURCES LIMITED
("Upland" or the "Company")
Subscription by Substantial New Investor
Upland Resources Limited (LSE: UPL), the oil and gas company
actively building a portfolio of attractive upstream assets, is
pleased to announce that it has conditionally agreed to the
subscription by Tune Assets Limited ("Tune") placed 74,074,074 new
shares of no par value in the Company (the "Subscription Shares")
with Tune Assets Limited ("Tune") at 1.35p per share (the
"Subscription Price") to raise GBP1,000,000 (before expenses).
These funds, when combined with the Company's existing cash
reserves (which are currently approximately GBP1.99 million), will
be used to part fund the obligations of Upland Resources (UK
Onshore) Limited under the Wick farm-in agreement announced on 29
November 2017 (subject to completion of such farm-in agreement
taking place). They will also contribute to Upland UK's share of
costs to fund work on its existing assets, on new ventures and to
provide working capital for the business.
Completion of the subscription for the Subscription Shares is
conditional upon receipt of the aggregate Subscription Price from
Tune by 9 February 2018 and admission of the Subscription Shares to
the Official List (standard listing segment) of the UK Listing
Authority and to the London Stock Exchange's main market for listed
securities. Applications for such admissions will be made to the UK
Listing Authority and to the London Stock Exchange upon receipt by
the Company of the aggregate Subscription Price.
Background on Tune Group, Kamarudin Meranun and Tony
Fernandes:
The Tune Group was founded in 2001 by Tony Fernandes and
Kamarudin Meranun with the aim of providing affordable products and
services across multiple industries including airlines, hotels,
telecommunication and sports. The Group holds substantial stakes
in, inter alia:-
* AirAsia - Acquired out of government ownership by
Tune Air in 2001 for less than GBP1, AirAsia has
subsequently been turned around to become the largest
low cost carrier in Asia. Under the ownership of Tune
Group, the Company now services an extensive network
of over 165 destinations and has successfully grown
its fleet to over 180 aircraft. AirAsia was named the
World's Best Low Cost Airline in the annual World
Airline Survey by Skytrax for nine consecutive years
from 2009 to 2017 and World's Leading Low Cost
Airline by World Travel Awards for five consecutive
years from 2013 to 2017.
* QPR Football Club - Tune Group has been a major
shareholder of the London based Championship football
club since August 2011. Tony Fernandes is the
Chairman of QPR with Kamarudin Meranun sitting on the
Board. With the support of the Group, QPR continues
to focus on building a global brand with an
exceptional development programme.
* Caterham Group - Tune Group announced the purchase of
Caterham Cars in April 2011. With the support of Tune,
the Company continues to be on the cutting edge of
the automotive industry, focusing on motorsport and
specialist engineering.
* Tune Hotels Group - Founded in 2007, Tune Hotels'
core proposition is to offer a great night's sleep at
a great price. All of the Tune hotels feature
space-efficient, streamlined rooms focusing on
high-quality basics: 5-star bed and powerful hot
showers. Though minimally priced, the strategically
located hotels provide housekeeping services,
electronic keycard access into rooms, extensive CCTV
systems and no access into the main lobby without a
keycard past midnight. While mainly based in the Far
East the chain also operates in Britain and India.
* Tune Talk - Launched in 2009, Tune Talk is a Mobile
Virtual Network Operator in Malaysia, which provides
no-frills prepaid service for voice, data and SMS
packages to fulfil the value for money segment with
great accessibility and broad distribution reach.
* Epsom College in Malaysia - Epsom College in Malaysia
combines academic excellence with a first class
British boarding experience, is a boarding and day
school based on the on a 50-acre site at Bandar
Enstek, south of Kuala Lumpur. Seen as a major
development in the field of education in Malaysia,
Epsom College is co-educational and follows the
English National Curriculum with all teaching in
English. The Senior School for pupils aged 11-18 is
both a day and boarding school. It opened in
September 2014 with a small Prep School on site for
day pupils aged 3 - 10 years old.
Kamarudin Meranun is a leading Malaysian businessman who
co-founded the Tune Group alongside Tony Fernandes. He has been
AirAsia's Executive Chairman since November 2013 having started as
a director of the Company in 2001. He is also a Non-Independent
Executive Director of AirAsia X and was appointed Group Chief
Executive Officer of AirAsia X on 30 January 2015 to take charge of
developing an overarching strategy for AirAsia's longhaul, low cost
business, which consists of AirAsia X, Thai AirAsia X and Indonesia
AirAsia X. He received a Diploma in Actuarial Science from
University Technology MARA and he received a B.Sc. degree with
Distinction majoring in Finance in 1986 and an MBA in 1987 from
Central Michigan University.
Tony Fernandes is a prominent and well respected Malaysian
entrepreneur who co-founded the Tune Group alongside Kamarudin
Meranun. He has been Group Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia since
2001 and is a former host of 'The Apprentice Asia' TV series. He
studied at Epsom College and the London School of Economics in
Britain, and qualified as an Associate Member of the Association of
Chartered Certified Accountants in 1991 and Fellow Member in 1996.
In recognition of his work, he has received a number of
international accolades, including the title Officer of the Legion
d' Honneur recognising his contributions to the French aviation
industry, a CBE by the United Kingdom in 2011 and the Fourth Pillar
Award from the US-Asean Business Council in 2016, for his
extraordinary contribution towards growth of Asean - the second
recipient of the award after the Administration of US President
Barack Obama.
Total Voting Rights
In accordance with the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure
Guidance and Transparency Rules, the Company announces that
following admission of the Subscription Shares, it will have
457,242,705 shares of no par value in issue, none of which are held
in treasury. Therefore, the total number of voting rights in the
Company will be 457,242,705.
The above figure of 457,242,705 may be used by shareholders in
the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they
will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or
a change in their interest in, the share capital of the Company
under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
Steve Staley, CEO of Upland Resources Limited, said:
"We are very pleased to welcome Tune as a new, high profile,
cornerstone investor and to be one of the few companies in which
this highly successful and entrepreneurial group has chosen to
invest. With Tune's backing we will be able to pursue the very
exciting Wick Prospect and to finance other future opportunities.
The investment by Tune supports Upland's move to the second phase
of our strategy, to invest in high impact assets, which will help
us realise potentially transformative value growth."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 on market abuse
For further information, please contact:
Upland Resources Limited www.uplandres.com
Steve Staley, CEO Tel: +44 (0)7891 677 441
s.staley@uplandres.com
Optiva Securities
Limited
Jeremy King (Corporate Tel: +44 (0)20 3137 1904
Finance) jeremy.king@optivasecurities.com
Christian Dennis (Corporate Tel: +44 (0)20 3411 1882
Broker) christian.dennis@optivasecurities.com
FTI Consulting
Edward Westropp Tel: +44 (0)203 727 1521
edward.westropp@fticonsulting.com
Flowcomms Ltd
Sasha Sethi Tel: 07891 677441
sasha@flowcomms.com
Notes
Upland is an upstream oil & gas company whose highly
experienced management team has a track record of creating major
value for shareholders in junior oil & gas companies, including
Cove Energy plc. The Company has extensive technical and commercial
skills and contacts, management having held senior roles in
Petronas, Conoco, Shell etc.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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