October 14, 2008

Pallinghurst and POSCO sign co investment deal

Pallinghurst announced that it has signed a co investment agreement with POSCO. Under this agreement, POSCO commits USD 200 million for investments in approved projects developed by Pallinghurst in the natural resources sector internationally.

POSCO joins AMCI, Investec, NGP Midstream & Resources and Pallinghurst Guernsey as co investment partners with total commitments from the 5 co investment partners now amounting to approximately USD 1 billion.

Under the Pallinghurst investment program the first joint investment to be made with POSCO will be the acquisition of an effective 13% stake in a manganese project located in the world renowned Kalahari Basin in South Africa. The project, 49% owned by the Pallinghurst consortium, is expected to come into production in 2010 and have in excess of 30 million tonnes of measured ore resources.

Commenting on the transaction Mr Brian Gilbertson chairman of Pallinghurst said that "We greatly value POSCO's partnership as we set out to build a world class supplier of steelmaking materials. Competition for access to these commodities is likely to increase substantially in years ahead."

Pallinghurst Resources LLP acted as advisor to the Pallinghurst consortium.