TIDMBZM

RNS Number : 7622I

Bellzone Mining PLC

23 March 2018

BELLZONE MINING PLC

("Bellzone" or the "Company")

Amendment to Loan Availability Period and Repayment Dates

Bellzone Mining plc (AIM: BZM) announces that Hudson Global Group Limited ("Hudson") has agreed to amend the Loan Agreements dated 21 December 2015 and 23 December 2016 as follows:

(1) The Availability Period of the 2(nd) Hudson loan is extended from 31 March 2018 to 31 December 2019;

(2) The Repayment Dates of both Hudson loans are extended from 31 December 2018 to 31 December 2019;

(3) The non-default interest rate of the aggregate of five (5) percent and LIBOR shall continue to accrue in the period of amended Repayment Dates from 31 December 2018 to 31 December 2019.

The Company also announces that CS International (S) Pte Ltd ("CS") has agreed to amend the Loan Agreement dated 18 August 2014 (as previously amended by written agreement on 28 January 2015, 4 March 2015, 17 December 2015, 8 December 2016 and 18 July 2017) as follows:

(1) The Repayment Date is extended from 31 December 2018 to 31 December 2019; and

(2) The non-default interest rate of the aggregate of five (5) percent and LIBOR shall continue to accrue in the period of amended Repayment Date from 31 December 2018 to 31 December 2019.

Updated Loan Facilities

CS provided one loan in the principal amount of US$10.2 million to fund the working capital of the Company in 2014 and 2015 and this was fully drawn down in 2015.

Hudson provided two loans in the principal amounts of US$6.5 million and US$4.0 million to fund the working capital of the Company in 2016 and 2017 respectively. The first Hudson loan was fully drawn down on 29 March 2017 and the first draw-down of US$0.8 million from the second Hudson loan was completed on 6 June 2017. The remaining undrawn amount of US$3.2 million is now made available until 31 December 2019.

With immediate effect, all of Bellzone's loan facilities now have repayment dates reset to 31 December 2019 from 31 December 2018. The effective re-financing of its long-term liabilities provides the Company additional operational visibility and important financing flexibility.

Related Party Transactions

CS is an associated company of Hudson under the AIM Rules for Companies. As Hudson is a substantial shareholder in the Company, the amendment of the CS loan facility is a related party transaction under the AIM Rules for Companies.

Hudson is a related party of the Company under the AIM Rules for Companies. Accordingly, the amendments of its two loan facilities are related party transactions under the AIM Rules for Companies.

The Independent Directors of Bellzone, being Michael Farrow, Simon Brickles and Antony Gardner-Hillman consider, having consulted with its nominated adviser, WH Ireland Limited, that the terms of the transactions are fair and reasonable insofar as its shareholders are concerned.

Michael Farrow, Chairman, commented: "We have an exciting year ahead as we work to complete our ferronickel project feasibility study. Therefore we are very grateful for our major shareholder and sole long-term creditor's very timely continuing support and commitment. It is clear Hudson believes in the long-term future of Bellzone and has every interest to ensure that financial-support and debt servicing concerns are minimised. This is indubitably to the benefit of all shareholders."

Enquiries:

 
 Bellzone Mining plc 
  Simon Edwards                 +44 (0) 7767 492 712 
 WH Ireland Limited 
  Nominated Adviser 
  James Joyce / Jessica Cave    +44 (0) 20 7220 1666

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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March 23, 2018 06:45 ET (10:45 GMT)

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