03-June-2020:  Perseus Mining to acquire 100% of Exore Resources

That looks to be a combined announcement by both Perseus and Exore.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Perseus to acquire 100% of Exore by way of scheme of arrangement in an all-share transaction under which, if implemented, Exore shareholders will receive 1 Perseus share for every 12.79 Exore shares held.
• The Scheme delivers compelling value to Exore shareholders:
  • Based on Perseus’s 10 trading day VWAP, Scheme Consideration values Exore at a fully diluted equity value of A$59.8 million or A$0.098 per share
  • Based on Perseus’s last closing share price on 2 June 2020, Scheme Consideration values Exore at a fully diluted equity value of A$64.0 million or A$0.105 per share.
• At Perseus’s last closing price, the Implied Scheme Consideration represents a premium of: 
  • 69% to Exore’s closing share price of A$0.062 on 2 June 2020
  • 78% to the 20 trading day VWAP of Exore of A$0.059, up to and including 2 June 2020.
• This is equivalent to a 56.9% premium based on the 20 trading day VWAP of both companies.
• The Exore Board unanimously recommends that Exore shareholders vote in favour of the Scheme, in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to an Independent Expert’s report concluding that the Scheme is in the best interests of Exore shareholders.
• Exore has elected to exercise its pre-emptive right over Apollo’s 20% joint venture interest in the Bagoe and Liberty Projects in northern Côte d’Ivoire for US$4.5 million to obtain 100% ownership.
• Shareholders of both Perseus and Exore are expected to benefit from the increased strength of the combined entity:
  • Exore’s Bagoe project in northern Côte d’Ivoire has a maiden JORC-compliant Mineral Resource containing 90,000 ounces of gold classified as an Indicated Mineral Resource and a further 440,000 ounces classified as an Inferred Mineral Resource
  • The Mineral Resources defined at the Bagoe project are within trucking distance of Perseus’s Sissingué Gold Mine
  • Perseus has the financial capacity, technical expertise and in-country experience to advance the Bagoe and Liberty projects as well as explore Exore’s highly prospective ~2,000 square km land package.
• Perseus’s offer allows Exore shareholders to retain exposure to Exore’s exploration potential as well as gain exposure to Perseus’s multi-mine, multi-jurisdictional portfolio of profitable mining and development operations, its highly competent technical team and “licence to operate” in West Africa.

--- click on links above and below for more ---

Also:  Joint Perseus and Exore presentation

Looks like a good fit - PRU will expand their footprint in Côte d’Ivoire and will remain a 100% West African focussed gold miner.  

19-Feb-2021:  The hint is in the homepage of their website where they say:  "A rapidly growing, West African gold producer, developer and explorer."

West Africa is one of those places around the world where people tend to demand a discount due to perceived sovereign risk.  Also, Indonesia, Thailand, parts of South America, and a few other places where companies have had massive industrial strife or had governments move the goalposts, refuse permit renewals, or simply take back the land and the mine and shut the company out of the country.  

Our two biggest gold producers who are predominantly focussed on West Africa are Perseus (PRU) and Resolute (RSG).  If you think PRU looks cheap, look at RSG's chart!

Perseus has outperformed Resolute by a wide margin, but I personally do not like the exposure to West Africa.  I invest in ASX-listed gold producers who mine gold mostly here in Australia.  A lot of them are looking very cheap also.