Escrow Watch: Which companies have shares coming out of escrow in April?

Uranium miner 92 Energy to release more than 10 million shares
Cobre to release shares held by Metal Tiger
Newly listed IT company Attura to make large release

In the past fortnight, eight ASX companies have released announcements about escrowed shares which are due to be released in April.

Escrow Watch is Stockhead’s monthly recap of the ASX companies that are releasing shares currently in escrow (also known as restricted securities) over the coming weeks.

ASX shares in escrow are “locked away” and not listed on the bourse so owners can’t sell them – until they’re released.

This is intended to depict to would-be investors when raising capital that the management and previous investors are still backing the venture and aren’t raising capital just so they can “sell out”.

While there’s no guarantee holders of escrowed shares will sell at that point, the mere fact that they will be able to is worth knowing – particularly if shares have substantially moved one way or the other.

Click here for a more detailed description of the ASX rules surrounding escrow arrangements.

April 1 – Xero and counting

Cloud accounting software company Xero (ASX:XRO) will release 36,556 shares from voluntary escrow today (April 1) .

Shares in Xero have benefited from the recent tech rebound and have been up ~11% in the past month to $103.97.

The escrow shares are just a fraction of the companies which has a market cap of $15.50 billion.

Seen as one of the darlings of the ASX tech stocks the company has risen ~474% in the past 5 years but has felt the tech sell off which has come with market volatility falling ~18% over a one year period.

The company still has more than 84,000 shares in voluntary escrow due for release at the end of this year and start of 2023.

April 2 – Troubled Appen to release shares

Artificial intelligence software developer Appen (ASX:APX) will release 27,919 shares on April 2 which have been held under voluntary escrow.

Appen recently announced it had invested £2 million ($3.6 million) for a majority stake in synthetic data company, Mindtech Global.

Mindtech created Chameleon, a self-serve platform that allows customers to create and curate vast computer vision synthetic data assets used to build accurate neural networks. Its customers include leading retailers and consumer electronic companies.

Shares in Appen have plummeted ~56% in the past year to ~$6.94. The company has a market cap of ~$856 million.

April 6 – Uranium miner to release more than 10 million shares

Uranium miner 92 Energy Limited (ASX: 92E) will release 10,755,000 unquoted fully paid ordinary shares from escrow on April 6.

92 Energy recently announced elevated radioactivity had been intersected in the first three drill holes at the Gemini Mineralised Zone in Canada from the winter 2022 drill program.

The company has a market cap of $33.80 million and has seen its share price jump ~11% in the past month to ~58 cents along with the spot price of uranium, which recently reached its highest price since 2011.

April 7 – IT company Attura releases a big whack of shares

Newly listed IT services company Attura (ASX:ATA) will release 4,677,240 shares from voluntary escrow on April 7.

Attura listed on the local bourse in December. The company provides services to a client base spanning multiple industries including banks, energy/resources and government departments.

The company’s share price has risen steadily at ~22% since listing to 73 cents and it now has a market cap of $146.4 million.

April 7 – Island Pharmaceuticals release

Aussie mid-clinical stage anti-viral drug development company Island Pharmaceuticals (ASX:ILA) will release 58,379 shares from escrow on April 7.

Island Pharmaceutical’s lead asset is ISLA-101 is being repurposed for the prevention and treatment of dengue fever and other mosquito (or vector) borne diseases.

The company recently signed a clinical trial support services agreement for its upcoming ISLA-101 Phase 2a PEACH study.

The agreement reached with ICON GPHS, a contract research organisation with significant expertise in clinical trials, will help Island to to coordinate, manage and conduct the PEACH study.

Shares in Island are down ~60% in one year to 21 cents and the company has a market cap of ~$9 million.

April 7 – Apiam

Australia’s largest regional vet network Apiam Animal Health (ASX:AHX) will release 161,043 shares from voluntary escrow on April 7.

Apiam has a market cap of ~$116 million with the share price currently trading at ~84 cents. The company has been on an acquisition trail buying several veterinary practices as it works to grow its foothold in regional Australia.

April 7-9 – EP&T Global makes two large releases

Software stock EP&T Global Limited (ASX: EPX) will release 833,335 fully paid ordinary shares from mandated escrow on April 7. The company will release a further 783,335 fully paid ordinary shares from ASX mandated escrow on 9 April 2022.

The company said 64,625,870 fully paid ordinary shares remain subject to mandatory and voluntary escrow.

EP&T Global helps building owners and operators achieve savings from both cost and carbon footprint perspectives.

The company listed on the ASX in May 2021, with its share price falling ~38% since to 12 cents with a market cap of $21.82 million.

However, the stock has recently rebounded to be up 8.7% in the past five days with no doubt investors hoping to see it rally more.

April 8 – WA1 resources undertakes release

Newly listed explorer WA1 Resources (ASX: WA1) will release 1,485,000 shares from imposed escrow on April 8.

The spinout of private project generator Tali Resources listed on the ASX last month.

It has three WA exploration projects — the flagship ‘West Arunta’ plus ‘Madura’ (IOCG) and ‘Hidden Valley’ (nickel, copper, PGEs).

Hidden Valley contains a number of potential intrusive bodies considered prospective for mafic-ultramafic intrusion-hosted Ni-Cu-PGE sulphides.

Shares in the company have dipped 20% since listing to 20 cents and it has a market cap of ~9.4 million.

April 11 – Cobre to release shares from largest shareholder

Emerging resources company Cobre Limited (ASX: CBE) has announced it will release 5,106,963 shares held by the company’s largest shareholder, natural resources investor Metal Tiger (ASX:MTR), from voluntary escrow on April 11, 2022.

The Cobre share price has rallied ~13% in the past month to 6 cents after falling ~66% in a one year period. Cobre has a market cap of ~11.25 million, with prospective prospects in Botswana and Western Australia with a focus on high-grade copper.

Cobre said there are no further securities subject to either ASX or voluntary escrow.