VANCOUVER and JOHANNESBURG, April 30 /CNW/ - Uranium One Inc. ("Uranium One" or the "Company") today confirmed that it has acquired an investment in ordinary shares of Paladin Energy Ltd. ("Paladin"). The share purchases were made through Uranium One's 100% owned Luxembourg-based subsidiary Cheetah Resources SARL.
The shares of Paladin were purchased for investment purposes. Uranium One continually reviews its investment alternatives and may, from time to time, acquire additional shares or dispose of its holdings of shares in Paladin.
Although not at a level requiring the lodgement of a substantial shareholder notice, the shareholding raises questions about the identity of the buyer.
Based on publicly available information, Cheetah Resources appears to be a 100% owned subsidiary of TSX/JSX listed uranium company, Uranium One Inc (TSX:UUU).
Uranium One has a market capitalisation of approximately US$1.5 billion. However, upon further investigation, the company has links to Rosatom, the State Corporation controlling all of Russia’s nuclear activities.
Paladin is the largest independent, pure play publicly traded global uranium producer with a market capitalisation of approximately A$2.7 billion. Paladin has two operating mines in Africa and advanced exploration and development assets globally.
A strong production growth profile is expected to expand Paladin’s current production base to in excess of 14Mlb of U3O8 by 2014.
John Borshoff, Managing Director, said to date, Paladin has not been contacted by either Cheetah Resources or Uranium One in regard to this shareholding and is not aware of their intentions in relation to the holding.
As at 22 April 2010, and based on available information, Paladin believes a minimum of 9,839,156 shares has been purchased, which would be equivalent to 1.4% of issued capital.
Interestingly, Uranium One’s largest shareholder is Effective Energy NV, a 100% owned subsidiary of ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. (ARMZ), which is the appointed and authorised uranium feedstock supplier to the Russian Nuclear Industry.
ARMZ is part of Rosatom. According to the World Nuclear Association, Russia is moving steadily forward with plans for a much expanded role of nuclear energy, with the intention to double output by 2020.
Paladin said the information should be conveyed to the market for the purposes of keeping the market fully informed, particularly in view of the concentrated nature of the global uranium industry and the role Paladin plays in this exclusive sector.
About Uranium One
Uranium One is one of the world's largest publicly traded uranium producers with a globally diversified portfolio of assets located in Kazakhstan, the United States and Australia.
Just want to say your article is brilliant. The lucidity in your post is simply impressive and i can assume you are an expert on this field.
ReplyDelete