Trident Royalties appoints ex Glencore Senior Exec

18th June 2021 | Trident Royalties plc

Appointment of Ex-Glencore Senior Executive as Chair & Board Changes

Trident Royalties Plc (AIM: TRR, FSX: 5KV), is pleased to announce the appointment of Paul Smith as Non-Executive Chair with effect from 21 June. James Kelly will step down as Chair from that date but will remain on the Board as a Non-Executive Director. Additionally, Mark Potter will step down from his position as a Non-Executive Director with immediate effect, to pursue other business interests. As set out in more detail below, Mr Smith has indicated a willingness to make an equity investment in the Company and it is intended that Mr Smith will today subscribe for new shares in Trident with a value of £1 million at a price of 40p per share (the “Subscription Price”) and up to a further £1 million at the Subscription Price within the next 12 months.

Paul Smith worked for Glencore Plc from 2011 until 2020. As Head of Strategy, his principal areas of focus were capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and capital allocation. During this period Glencore successfully completed numerous large scale corporate and capital markets transactions, most notably the $90bn merger with Xstrata Plc.

While at Glencore, Paul was also the CFO of Katanga Mining Limited, Glencore`s TSX listed subsidiary from 2019 until its de-listing in 2020. In addition, he represented Glencore as a non-executive director of Lonmin Plc and Glencore Agriculture Limited.

Prior to Glencore, Paul was an analyst and fund manager at Marshall Wace Asset Management, where he focused on cyclical sectors, including mining. Paul qualified as a Chartered Accountant before working in investment banking at Close Brothers and Credit Suisse. He has an MA in Modern History from Oxford University.

Paul Smith, commented:

“I am delighted to have been asked to become the new Chairman of Trident Royalties at what is an exciting time in the Company’s development. Under James’s leadership, Trident has quickly established itself as a credible provider of metals royalties and streams, with 12 royalties already in place and others under consideration. Trident is well positioned to grow through a combination of primary issuance of royalties and streams and by consolidating the extensive pool of existing ones.

“De-carbonising the global economy will require material increases in the production of enabling metals, such as copper. The cost of building the associated incremental mine capacity will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. This will lead to an increasing demand for alternative sources of development capital, including royalties and streams.

“Trident’s goal is to build a large-scale royalty and streaming company which is also diversified by the commodity, geography and maturity of the underlying projects. I look forward to helping Adam and his team to maximise the value of this opportunity for our shareholders.”

James Kelly, commented:

“I am exceptionally proud that in a little over 12 months, we have rapidly executed on our strategy and built Trident into a diversified mining royalty company with a portfolio of attractive assets, operating cash flow and a board and management team of the highest calibre. We have enjoyed strong growth in both the share price and market capitalisation; testament to the strategy and the hard work of all involved.

“We now have a solid platform for further growth, and I am delighted that Paul will be joining us as our new chairman. I believe that Paul, with his experience and network, is well qualified to lead Trident for this next phase as we look to rapidly scale the business.

“I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Mark for his contribution to Trident; his royalty and investing experience has been invaluable to both the board and the Company as a whole and we wish him well in his future endeavours.”

Proposed investment of up to £2 million

Paul Smith, through Collingwood Capital Partners AG, a Company of which Paul Smith is the sole shareholder, intends to invest up to £2 million in the Company. It is proposed that this will comprise an initial subscription for 2,500,000 new ordinary shares of £0.01 each in the capital of the Company (“Ordinary Shares”) at a price of 40p per share for aggregate proceeds of £1,000,000. This subscription is expected to take place prior to his appointment to the Trident board. The Subscription Price represents a premium of 4% to the volume weighted average price for the Ordinary Shares in the 5 trading days prior to the date of this announcement.

In addition, Collingwood Capital Partners AG will have the right, exercisable at any time up to 17 June 2022 to subscribe for an additional 2,500,000 Ordinary Shares at the Subscription Price, such period being extended where any exercise would be prohibited by law on the business day prior to the expiry of the right.

The investment agreement is expected to be signed with Collingwood Capital Partners AG later today and a further announcement will be made in due course.

News in full

CEO Adam Davidson recently provided an update of the business and its strategy below

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