Endeavour acquires 37.88% interest in Crew Gold Corporation
1/28/2010 9:25 AM - Canada NewsWire
GEORGE TOWN, Grand Cayman, Jan. 28, 2010 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX News Network) --
Toronto Stock Exchange: EDV
Endeavour Financial Corporation is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Endeavour Financial Luxembourg SARL ("Endeavour" or the "Corporation") has acquired 810,083,211 common shares of Crew Gold Corporation ("Crew") in a market transaction, which represents 37.88% of Crew's issued and outstanding common shares, at an average price of NOK0.66 per share, for a total value of approximately US$92 million.
Neil Woodyer, Chief Executive Officer of Endeavour stated: "We've now made our second equity investment as part of our gold-focused strategy and now have significant equity positions in two West African gold producers, Etruscan Resources Inc. (EET.TSX) and Crew Gold (CRU.TSX; CRU.OSE). Crew's LEFA Gold Mine, in the Republic of Guinea has been in commercial production since mid 2008 and is expected to produce more than 200,000 ounces of gold in 2010. Now that the debt re-structuring process is complete, we believe Crew is well positioned to focus on optimizing its operations and building shareholder value. Endeavour looks forward to working with Crew as growth and value creation initiatives are implemented."
Cameron Belsher, Chairman of Crew Gold stated: "I am delighted to have Endeavour as a key shareholder and long-term strategic partner. Having recently re-structured our balance sheet and stabilized our shareholder base, we now have a foundation from which we can deliver Crew's full growth potential. Endeavour brings both strategic and financial strength to assist us in achieving our growth."
Three directors of Crew will resign from the board and will be replaced by three Endeavour nominees, including Neil Woodyer and Frank Giustra.
LEFA Corridor Gold Project, Republic of Guinea
The LEFA Corridor Gold Project is located approximately 700km northeast of Conakry, the capital of the Republic of Guinea. The principal concession, governed by the Convention de Base, covers an area of approximately 1,600km(2) and is known as the Dinguiraye Concession. LEFA also has a further six contiguous properties over which Crew has rights derived from six prospecting permits not governed by the Convention de Base, bringing the total project area to approximately 2,552 km(2).
The estimated mineral reserves of the LEFA Gold Mine as at August 31, 2009 is 65.9Mt, at average gold grade of 1.4g/t, for contained gold of 3.0 million ounces (see Crew Gold Corporation news release, dated January 25, 2010).
Endeavour's Gold Investment Strategy
Endeavour has a gold-focused investment strategy to create value through timely strategic investments in gold producers, and a vision to ultimately create an intermediate sized gold company.
The Corporation's management team believes in long-term rising gold prices and sees investment opportunity in companies like Crew Gold, which have quality underlying resource assets but which face short-term operational or financial challenges. |
