Aminex sells US assets to Northcote Energy

9th May 2014 11:15

Oil and gas developer Aminex announced it has reached an agreement with AIM-listed gas company Northcote Energy and Springer Oil and Gas for the sale of Aminex USA for 5m pounds.The $5m comprises $150,000 in cash, $350,000 of Northcote shares and a production payment of $10 per barrel until a total of $4.5m has been recovered with first payments to start on January 1st 2015.Under the heads of terms agreement both companies have agreed to add a minimum of $1m in development capital into assets they are buying over the next year to strengthen production. Last month, Aminex posted a loss for 2013 of $17.3m and explained that the loss included two significant factors, namely a $9.3m impairment of its US assets and a $4.4m accounting charge. Chief Executive Jay Bhattacherjee said: "I am very pleased to announce the proposed sale of Aminex USA. which would deliver on the company's stated intention to focus on its highly prospective assets in Tanzania and to grow in Africa as a production and development business.""With the commitment of Northcote and Springer to boost production by deploying capital into the assets and with the fact they are proven operators in USA, the Company would be able to retrieve significant value from this non-core asset for our shareholders once the transaction is finalised," he said.As of 12:15, Aminex' share price had risen 5.52% to 0.73p. WS