Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU, TSX:PRU, OTC:PMNXF) has sold its 33 million common shares in TSX Venture Exchange-listed gold explorer Montage Gold Corp for C$61.38 million (~US$45 million).
The transaction was executed on August 20, under an agreement with BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc, at a price of C$1.86 per share.
Non-core to operations
Perseus originally obtained the shares in May 2022 through its purchase of Orca Gold Inc, whose principal asset was a 70% interest in the Block 14 Gold Project in Sudan, now renamed the Meyas Sands Gold Project.
Before this week's transaction, Perseus owned 33 million shares, representing around 9.6% of Montage's outstanding shares. With the completion of this sale, Perseus will no longer hold any shares in Montage.
Perseus considered the Montage stake to be non-core to its operations.
The proceeds from the sale will bolster Perseus’s balance sheet, following its recent acquisition of a strategic stake in Predictive Discovery Ltd, the company behind the Bankan Gold Project in Guinea.
Strategic stake in Predictive Discovery
Perseus chair and CEO Jeff Quartermaine said: “We are very pleased to have successfully completed the sale of the Montage shareholding at a price that will largely offset the cost of our recent acquisition of a strategic stake in Predictive’s Bankan Gold Project in Guinea, which we believe is a potentially attractive gold development project.”
The investment in Predictive Discovery cost Perseus A$86 million (US$57.9 million).
Perseus will file an early warning report with Canadian securities regulators concerning the Montage share sale, in compliance with National Instrument 62-103, which will be available on SEDAR+.