The
Board of directors of The Savannah Sugar Estates Co Ltd is pleased to announce
the signature of an Agreement
on the 22nd of December 2005 between Sena Development Limited, its
shareholders and subsidiary company, Sena Holding Limited, and the Tereos Group,
whereby the latter is to
inject USD 20 million as share capital and be issued with 50 % of the shares of
Sena Holding Limited, the holding company of Companhia de Sena Sarl (CDSS) in
Mozambique. Furthermore the Tereos group will inject by way of
shareholders loan USD 10 million as additional funding for the operations of
CDSS. The agreement provides for joint management of CDSS
by the partners.
The
transaction is expected to be completed by mid-February 2006.
The
Savannah Sugar Estates Co Ltd is part of a consortium that invested through
Sena Development Ltd in the rehabilitation of CDSS in Mozambique and has an
effective interest of 18.037% in CDSS, which will be reduced by half following
this transaction.
Tereos
is the largest sugar group of France and the second largest in Europe with
operations in numerous European countries.
Furthermore the group is present in Brazil and Reunion Island.
The
Board of Directors of the Company is confident that the expertise of an
international sugar group will prove very beneficial to the operations of
CDSS. Furthermore this transaction will
improve the treasury of CDSS giving it the means to realize its business plan.
The parties have also agreed upon a put option for The Savannah
Sugar Estates Co Ltd and
a call option for Tereos through Sena
Development Ltd
pursuant to which the Company may realize its indirect investment in CDSS between
2010 and 2011 for a consideration based on a EBITDA (earnings before interest taxation,
depreciation and amortization) multiple of 8.
By
order of the Board
For
ESPITALIER NOEL LTD
Secretaries
« This communiqué is issued
pursuant to Listing Rule 11.3.
The Board of Directors of The Savannah
Sugar Estates Co Ltd accepts full responsibility for the accuracy of the
information contained in this communiqué.»