Hong Kong firm to take Venturex stake

Hong Kong-based Regent Pacific is poised to take a major stake in Venturex Resources through a $12 million placement and will provide up to $15 million in funds for any acquisition made by October.

The companies have signed a binding subscription agreement whereby Venturex will issue 133.9 million new shares to Regent at nine cents each. On completion of the placement, Regent Pacific will emerge with a 19.99 per cent interest.

Shares in Venturex closed up 2.5c to 11.5c today.

Venturex said tranche 2 of the share placement will be used to repay Macquarie Bank and Argonaut Equity Partners secured loan facilities. The tranche is subject to shareholder approval.

Funds from the placement will be used to transform Venturex's Whim Creek project in the Pilbara into a scaled central processing hub for the company's known and future volcanogenic massive sulphides deposits in the Pilbara.

In addition, Regent has been granted an exclusive right to provide the first $15 million of any acquisition financing until the end of September through a secured convertible note.

Key terms of the convertible note include a three-year term, a conversion price of 12 cents and an interest rate coupon of 1 per cent.

Both the placement and the acquisition funding were arranged by Argonaut.