News and Events

Evolution Securities Limited acted as a co-lead manager to a $175m placing for Afren PLC (AFR.L)

Evolution acted as a co-lead manager in relation to a Placing to raise $175 million for Afren plc, the UK-listed oil and gas company with interests in Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and DRC.  The Placing was conducted through an accelerated bookbuild leading to the issue of 129.5m shares at an issue price of 81p per share, representing approximately 18.0% of the Company’s issued share capital.

The net proceeds of the Placing will be used to fund an accelerated appraisal and development of the broader Ebok-Okwok complex in Nigeria, further appraisal and infill drilling of Afren’s Côte d’Ivoire assets and infill drilling on the Okoro project in Nigeria. In addition, Afren is applying a proportion of the proceeds to potential future acquisitions as well as general corporate purposes.

Following the General Meeting on 3 December 2009, Afren’s entire ordinary share capital has been admitted to the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s main market.

Evolution Securities Limited

13 November 2009

Evolution Securities Limited announces a £1.2m Placing for Coolabi plc (COO.L)

Evolution acted as Nominated Adviser and Broker for Coolabi plc, a specialist in the ownership, development, creative management and exploitation of high quality intellectual property assets, in connection with a placing to raise £1.2 million.

The proceeds of the placing will be used by the Company to invest in its existing owned and licensed intellectual properties.

Following the placing, the Company will have a market capitalisation of GBP3.9 million at the placing price. The placing represents 29.8 per cent. of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company immediately following the placing.

3 November 2009

Evolution Securities Limited ("Evolution") announces £59.6m Placing for Coal of Africa Limited ("CoAL") (CZA.L)

Evolution acted as Nominated Adviser and Joint Lead Manager for Coal of Africa Limited, the AIM/ASX/JSE listed coal mining and development company operating in South Africa, in connection with a Placing to raise £59.6 million through an accelerated bookbuild to place 59.9m shares at an issue price of 95p per share, representing approximately 14.52% of the Company’s issued share capital.

The proceeds will be used by CoAL to fund the ZAR650m acquisition of NuCoal Mining (Pty) Limited, with the remainder being used for some or all of the following:
 

·      to increase logistics capacity (including the first instalment of
       capital required to effect wagon acquisition from Transnet
       Freight Rail);

·      to accelerate capex at the Vele and Makhado projects;

·      to pursue other smaller, opportunistic bolt on acquisitions of
       coal projects; and

·      for general working capital requirements.

NuCoal is a thermal coal producer with assets in South Africa in close proximity to CoAL’s Mooiplaats mine. NuCoal’s Woestalleen Colliery, which produces 2.5Mtpa of saleable coal for domestic and export markets, has off-take contracts in place. NuCoal has two beneficiation plants, one fully operational mine as well as one re-entering production in Q4 2009 and three planned to commence production in 2010 (2) and 2013 (1).

Evolution Securities Limited ("Evolution") is pleased to announce its appointment as Joint Broker to Entertainment One Ltd. with immediate effect.

AIM quoted, Entertainment One’s strategy is to build the leading global independent entertainment content ownership and distribution business that acquires films, television programs and music content and exploits these rights in all media throughout the world. Entertainment One has operations in Canada, the U.S, Holland, Belgium and the UK. Entertainment One also owns Koch Entertainment, the largest independent record label in North America and a leading independent distributor of music and video in the United States.

30 September 2009

Evolution Securities Limited Appointed Broker and Corporate Adviser to Greenland Minerals and Energy Limited

Evolution Securities Limited ("Evolution") is pleased to announce its appointment as Broker and Corporate Adviser to Greenland Minerals Energy Limited with immediate effect.

ASX-listed Greenland Minerals is an exploration and development company with a market cap of A$180 million and is focused on unlocking the mineral potential of southern Greenland.

Evolution Securities Ltd. (’ESL’), one of the UK’s leading independent investment banks, announces a further step in the expansion of its Fixed Income business with the appointment of Morton Llewellyn who will be responsible for launching a Debt Capital Markets desk ("DCM").  Morton will work with Guy Cornelius, Head of Fixed Income, to continue the growth of Evolution’s Fixed Income business, a key strategic development for Evolution Securities.

Morton joins Evolution having worked previously at ING Group where he was Head of High Yield Capital Markets, DCM.  Prior to working at ING Group, he spent 10 years at WestLB Group, latterly as Head of High Yield Capital Markets/Origination and EMEA Leveraged and Project Finance Syndications.  Morton began his career in 1987 with accountants Robson Rhodes, subsequently moving into the City in 1994 when he joined HSBC. 

Announcing the appointment, ESL’s Chief Executive, Andrew Umbers, said:

"This is another key hire for our business and we are delighted that Morton is joining our Fixed Income team.  Fixed income finance is increasingly attractive to our corporate clients and the creation of a Debt Capital Markets desk is the next logical step in the growth of the Fixed Income business. As we have already said we will continue our drive to increase market share and provide an industry leading Fixed Income business, a strategy which has already been validated by our rating as the number one UK and European Fixed Income Agency Broker for 2009.  The business is going from strength to strength and this appointment is further evidence of our ability to attract the highest calibre candidates to assist in these growth plans."

Guy Cornelius, Head of Fixed Income at Evolution Securities said:

"The creation of a Debt Capital Markets desk is another important milestone in the development of our Fixed Income offering.  I look forward to welcoming Morton to our growing team and am confident that he will make significant contributions to Evolution’s continued success."

Evolution Securities Ltd. (’ESL’), one of the UK’s leading investment banks, announces further expansion of its pan-European equities research  department with the addition of a telecom, media and technology (’’TMT’’) research team and a further strengthening of its consumer research group with the addition of Food Retail coverage. John McPate, formerly of JP Morgan, joins to establish the TMT sector research team and the team is completed by Mark James who joins from Collins Stewart, and Stephen Malcolm who joins from Arête Research LLP.  David McCarthy, formerly of Citigroup, joins as Head of the Food Retail team.

John McPate has worked in the City for 10 years, and is widely respected as a technology specialist.  He joined the former Schroder Salomon Smith Barney as a Vice President in 1999, specialising in the technology sector.  In 2001 John joined JP Morgan, where he was a Technology specialist responsible for the sales and marketing of JP Morgan’s investment research advice to institutional and hedge find clients in the UK, Europe and the US.  Prior to his career in the City John worked at Ferranti Defence Systems, followed by a period at Marconi Electronic Devices and then Wolfson Microelectronics.

Mark James has over 10 years experience as an investment analyst, beginning his career as a telecoms analyst with Nomura in 1997.  He subsequently joined BlueBay Asset Management in 2005, and then moved to Collins Stewart in 2007.  At Collins Stewart Mark focused on European telecommunications.  Mark is a qualified Chartered Accountant with a background in industry followed by corporate restructuring experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Stephen Malcolmis joining the TMT team in October from Arête Research LLP where he was a partner and a telecoms and media analyst. Prior to joining Arête in 2003 Stephen was at Deutsche Bank from 1999.

David McCarthy has worked in the City since 1990, prior to which he worked for both Tesco and Diageo.  David joins from Hobart Capital Markets where he has been Head of Research since 2008.  Prior to this David spent nearly 10 years at Citigroup where he led the highly rated Citigroup food retail team.

Announcing these appointments, ESL’s Chief Executive Andrew Umbers, said:

"I am delighted that we have again been successful in recruiting very high calibre people to join our growing team.  These appointments take us further towards our goal of providing market leading independent research across a significant proportion of the UK and European equity market."

Evolution Securities Limited Appointed Financial Adviser and Broker to 600 Group PLC

Evolution Securities Limited ("Evolution") is pleased to announce its appointment as Financial Adviser and Broker to 600 Group PLC with immediate effect.

600 Group PLC is listed on the main market and is a manufacturer and distributor of precision engineering products to international markets and has a market capitalisation of c.£12m.

Evolution Securities Limited ("Evolution") is pleased to announce its appointment as Joint Broker to UK Coal PLC with immediate effect.

UK Coal is Britain’s biggest producer of coal, supplying around 15% of the coal burned in the UK’s electricity generation industry in 2008. The company operates four deep mines and four surface mines, primarily located in Central and Northern England.

The company also has substantial land and property interests of around 43,500 acres, which were valued in June 2009 at £382 million, and has established its own power generation business.

UK Coal is listed on the Main Market with a market cap of approx. £210 million.

Evolution Securities Limited Appointed as Broker to Hallin Marine Subsea International plc

Evolution Securities Limited ("Evolution") is pleased to announce its appointment as Broker to Hallin Marine Subsea International plc with immediate effect.

AIM listed Hallin Marine Subsea International plc is a provider of subsea solutions to the oil and gas industry and has a market cap of c.£47m.