Hill Dickinson advises Main Market listed Emmerson plc on its acquisition of Moroccan Salts Limited

Hill Dickinson’s corporate team has recently advised its client Emmerson plc (Emmerson) on its reverse takeover acquisition of BVI company, Moroccan Salts Limited (MSL), completion of which was announced on 4 June 2018. The acquisition included a significantly over-subscribed placing which raised gross proceeds of £6 million.

MSL is the parent company of MSL Minerals SARL and Mine de Centre SARL which are the owners of 100% of the Khemisset Project, a potash development project in Morocco. The Khemisset Project comprises one mining licence and 39 research permits in the Rabat/Salé/Zemmour region in Morocco – one of the fastest growing potash consuming countries worldwide with well-established infrastructure including a network of toll roads, electricity distribution and deep-water ports.

Recent exploration work by the MSL Group has advanced the Khemisset Project to the stage where MSL has declared a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate in compliance with the 2012 edition of the JORC Code.

The purchase price was satisfied by a cash payment of £10 million satisfied by issue of a total of 333,333,333 new ordinary shares of £0.03 each.

Hill Dickinson corporate consultant Michael Corcoran advised Emmerson on the deal with assistance from associate Melissa Wloch, trainees Amy Grosvenor and Laura Marginson, and paralegal Harriette Blake.

Commenting, Hayden Locke, CEO of Emmerson, stated: 

‘Now is the perfect time to be developing what we believe is an outstanding potash project. Food reserves are at a 50-year low and as the world’s population continues to rapidly grow, potash fertiliser becomes increasingly critical to increase crop yields and improve the quality of plants.  It is estimated that by 2050, the world will need to produce 70% more food from ever reducing per capita amounts of arable land, to feed its growing population. Put simply, global food security goals cannot be achieved without the significant use of fertilisers.

‘In Khemisset we have a project that ticks all the boxes: a large resource, significant exploration upside, an outstanding location - with Morocco being named as one of the fastest growing potash consuming countries in the world. Coupled with a shallow deposit and excellent local and export infrastructure, we are confident that we have a project which will benefit from low capital and operating costs.  

‘With £6 million raised in an oversubscribed placing we have the funds in place to deliver our near-term value drivers and, as a result, anticipate being able to hit the ground running with high impact newsflow post-listing as we move towards the delivery of a scoping study by the end of Q1 2019.

‘We are delighted to have successfully brought London’s newest potash company to the market at a time where there is record potash demand against rebalancing, disciplined, supply. With an excellent project and a proven Board and management team in place, we now have the wheels in motion to meet our objectives and move towards becoming a producing potash fertiliser company.’