Goldplat's South African subsidiary signs key compliance agreement

Goldplat, the AIM-listed gold producer in Africa, has reported that its South African gold recovery subsidiary, Goldplat Recovery(GPL) has signed a binding memorandum of agreement with its Black Economic Empowerment partner Amabubesi Property Holdings (Amabubesi).

The agreement enables Amabubesi to increase its interest in GPL from 15% to 26%, a criterium which Goldplat said was required by South African Black Economic Empowerment legislation to be in place before May 1st 2014.

The company said that the terms of the memorandum of agreement would see Amabubesi acquire a final 11% interest in GPL for a total consideration of ZAR 29.50m (£2.11m), with a 10% upfront cash payment on completion.

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The remaining 90% would be vendor financed by GPL with Amabubesi repaying the loan using its pro-rata dividends, Goldplat added. It said that the transaction values GPL at ZAR 268.21m (£19.16m).

Russell Lamming, Chief Executive Officer of Goldplat, said: "We are delighted to have signed this binding memorandum of agreement with our Black Economic Empowerment partners, ensuring our market leading South African gold recovery operation is 100% Black Economic Empowerment-compliant well in advance of the May 1st 2014 deadline."

Goldplat's share price was up 1.23% to 10.25p at 09:09 on Wednesday.

MF