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Anglo Asian takes stake in Canadian Libero Copper & Gold
Anglo Asian Mining (AAZ) announced that it has taken a C$6.3m strategic investment in Canada listed exploration company, Libero Copper & Gold.
The subscription for 12.6m new shares gives it a 19.9% stake in the Venture Exchange-quoted group. Each share has a half warrant attached exercisable at 75 cents.
Libero Copper & Gold has the option to acquire several copper exploration properties in North and South America including Mocoa in Colombia, one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-molybdenum resources.
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Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri commented:
“This strategic investment is aligned with our broader growth strategy to build upon our deep technical knowledge of the mining industry and expand our involvement in mining beyond our core focus in Azerbaijan. It continues to enhance our exposure to significant copper properties without weakening the Company’s balance sheet.”
Eckoh Acquires Syntec For $41m
Eckoh (ECK) completed its acquisition of Syntec, a UK-based company specializing in secure payment solutions for call centers.
The acquisition will bolster Eckoh’s Customer Engagement security solutions, adding complementary services and patents to their portfolio, and enhancing their position as the largest secure payments provider for call center operations in the key US market.
Syntec’s technology is protected by an extensive patent portfolio in the UK, US, EU and Australia, and their long list of enterprise clients includes leading brands such as Wayfair, Miele, Locus, Staples, AIB, JetBlue and Hiscox.
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Nik Philpot, CEO of Eckoh, commented:
“With the acquisition of Syntec, we can leverage their technology, product and IP to further enhance our security solutions, scale our go-to-market efforts and expand our world-class team. This will create additional value for our shareholders by accelerating growth and strengthen the relationships with our valued clients by delivering even higher levels of customer service.
Inspecs snaps up Ego Eyewear
Inspecs (SPEC) has continued to execute its ‘buy and build’ strategy, announcing it’s latest purchase, Ego Eyewear…
Ego Eyewear is a design and licensing company and uses third party eyewear manufacturers to produce premium fashion brands.
Ego’s licensed brands include Barbour, Liberty of London, Viktor & Rolf, Lyle & Scott, Henry Lloyd and Joseph, and Nordic brands Ivana Helsinki, Valerie and Day. Ego’s main distribution channel is through major optical chains.
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The deal is for an initial consideration of £6.2m and a deferred consideration partly based on performance over the next 3 years. Ego is expected to have revenue of £8.9m for the year to 31 December 2021 (2020: £3.4m), and Inspecs expects the acquisition to be earnings enhancing for 2022.
Robin Totterman, CEO, Inspecs commented:
“We are pleased to bring Ego into the Inspecs Group to further develop our brand portfolio and add to our Scandinavian offering, where we believe there are considerable opportunities for us.”
Keywords announces new revolving credit facility
Keywords Studios (KWS) have secured a new revolving credit facility for up to €200m…
The new facility replaces Keywords previous €100 million secured revolving credit facility. The lender group is made up of syndicate of major banks.
Jon Hauck, Chief Financial Officer of Keywords Studios, commented:
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“We are pleased to have finalised this RCF which gives us further flexibility and headroom to invest in growing Keywords Studios’ business, both organically and through acquisition, as part our strategy to cement the group’s position as the ‘go to’ technical and creative services platform for the global video games and adjacent content industries”…
“We continue to review a strong pipeline of acquisition candidates and this RCF enables us to pursue our strategy whilst maintaining a conservative mix of equity and debt funding going forward.”
The shares have rallied since the announcement, breaking above their descending retracement line and signalling that Keywords long-term uptrend is kicking back into gear.
Marlowe Plc announces acquisition of Skill Boosters
Marlowe (MRL) announced it has acquired Skill Boosters, incorporated as Inclusive Learning Limited for an initial consideration of £5.5m.
Skill Boosters serves 200 clients, with more than 95% of its revenue being generated from subscription licences.
The acquisition will offer attractive cross-sell and technology synergies with Marlowe’s compliance software activities. Skill Boosters will integrate into the Group’s VinciWorks brand, broadening its eLearning solution into diversity & inclusion and workplace behaviour training.
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For the year ended 31 July 2021, Skill Boosters generated an operating profit of £0.7m on revenues of £1.4m. Net assets at 31 August 2021 were £0.9m. The acquisition will be funded from Marlowe’s existing cash resources.
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