• Resource sector dominates list of ASX companies releasing shares from escrow heading into festive season
  • American West Minerals will  release shares from escrow held by participants in the pre-IPO capital raising
  • Lithium Plus Minerals to release shares as director suggests “every portfolio should do with some exposure to lithium”

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. As we approach the last month of CY22 there are quite a few ASX companies due to release shares.

November 29 – Catalano Seafood

Catalano Seafood (ASX:CSF) will release 815,000 fully paid ordinary shares from imposed escrow. CSF went from a Cannington fish and chip shop in the 1960s to a national wholesaler and retailer.

The company made its $5m IPO at 20 cents/share listing on March 11 with big plans to expand its national supply footprint.

Catalano recently signed a deal with Coles (ASX:COL) to supply to ‘Coles Local’ store in South Perth, with anticipated expansion to further locations in the Perth metropolitan area. Coles Local is a subsidiary of Coles Supermarkets in Australia, founded in 2018 as a way of expanding into the popular small format store market.

November 30 – One Click Group

WA-based financial tech platform One Click Group (ASX:1CG) will release 14,141,942 fully paid ordinary shares from ASX imposed escrow. The shares were issued as part of the consideration paid by 1CG to the vendors of Mobile Business Devices Pty Ltd.

1CG still has millions of shares subject to escrow to be released at various dates through until September 2024.

November 30 & various dates in December – Olympia Metals

Olympio Metals (ASX:OLY) will release 140,000 ordinary fully paid shares currently classified as restricted securities on November 30.  The company will also release:

  • 80,000 ordinary fully paid shares on December 1
  • 25,000 ordinary fully paid shares on December 3
  • 37,500 ordinary fully paid shares on December 7
  • 40,000 ordinary fully paid shares on December 8
  • 25,000 ordinary fully paid shares on December 14

OLY will apply for the quotation of these shares within five business days after the end of each escrow period. The former pot stock OLY re-listed as a WA gold, nickel, and lithium explorer in May this year after raising $6m at 20c per share.

In August, it identified numerous pegmatite intersections in historic drilling at its Mulwarrie project near Kalgoorlie, in the same province as the Red Dirt Metals (ASX:RDT) ~13Mt Mt Ida lithium project.

November 30 & December 4– Prospech

Precious metals explorer Prospech (ASX:PRS)  will release options from escrow.  PRS will release:

  • 23,117,588 fully paid shares on November 30
  • 10,000,000 options on November 30
  • 5,000,000 options on December 4

PRS recently announced initial surface sampling returned high grade results from the newly acquired Kolba (cobalt-copper-nickel-silver) exploration licence.

 

CSF, 1CG, OLY, PRS share price today:

December 1 – Pilbara Minerals, Centrex & Mont Royal Resources

Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS) will release 86,528 ordinary shares from voluntary escrow. The shares were previously issued to non executive directors (NED) under the company’s NED fee sacrifice offer approved by shareholders at the 2020 AGM.

As Stockhead’s Josh Chiat recently reported PLS has been raking in extraordinary prices for its BMX spodumene auctions, with the latest achieving another record.

Centrex Limited (ASX: CXM)  will release 59,545,454 ordinary shares held by Australia New Zealand Resources Corporation Pty Ltd (ANZR) from voluntary escrow.

CXM said the shares were issued as a result of conversion of the convertible note to ANZR.  CXM last week announced its 100% owned subsidiary Agriflex Pty Ltd has shipped its first international export with 5,000 tonnes of phosphate rock going to  New Zealand ag co-op Ravensdown. The CXM share price is up more than 68% year to date.

Gold Explorer Mont Royal Resources Limited (ASX:MRZ) will release 5 million shares from escrow. MRZ is building out its position in two underexplored greenstone belts in Quebec, Canada through the recently acquired Northern Lights, Assets option/JV agreements with Dios Exporation and Focus Graphite Assets.

PLS, CXM & MRZ share price today

December 2 – RLF AgTech, American West Minerals

RLF AgTech (ASX:RLF) will release 6,107,146 ordinary shares from escrow. RLF is a technology-driven plant nutrition company that develops products to empower farmers, nourish people and restore the earth.

RLF AgTech recently announced it had received formal government permission to operate in Vietnam via the establishment of a Representative Office in country.

The presence will enable RLF AgTech to capitalise on the increasing product demand and market presence in emerging high growth markets within South-East Asia.

American West Minerals (ASX:AW1) will release 13,385,000 fully paid ordinary shares from mandatory escrow. AW1 said the shares being released from escrow are held by participants in the pre-IPO capital raising.

AW1, which listed on the ASX in December 2021, recently announced an induced polarisation survey has identified several large copper targets at its Copper Warrior project in Utah.

December 3 – The Hydration Pharmaceuticals Company, Wisr

The Hydration Pharmaceuticals Company (ASX:HPC) will release 2,416,700 fully paid ordinary shares from voluntary escrow.

Trading as Hydralyte North America, HPC has developed a range of liquid, table and powder hydration products including electrolyte replacement drink Hydralyte.

The company announced record sales growth and an 80% increase in revenue for the half year ending June 30. The escrowed shares represent ~1.48% of all HPC shares on issue.

Non-bank lender Wisr (ASX:WZR) will release 15,923,693 shares from voluntary escrow. According to an ASX announcement 8,933,693 securities to be released from escrow are held by the company’s CEO and CFO, who don’t intend to trade the released securities at this time.

Wisr’s recent Q1 FY23 report flagged $21.2m in revenue, up 75% on the previous corresponding period and a 20% increase from Q4 FY22.

December 5 – Panther Metals

Panther Metals (ASX:PNT) will release 250,000 fully paid ordinary shares. PNT made its IPO on December 10, 2021. PNT has announced favourable results this year, including for its Coglia nickel-cobalt project in WA and on the gold front its Burtville East prospect, part of the Merolia project.

December 6 – Terra Uranium

Terra Uranium (ASX:T92)  will release 1,200,000 ordinary shares from escrow. T92 will apply for quotation of the ordinary shares following their release from escrow.

The company listed on the ASX on September 8 with Peak Asset Management founder and executive director Niv Dagan as a substantial share holder. 

T92 holds some 775sqkm of the Athabasca Basin in Canada, with three projects – the HawkRock, Parker Lake and Pasfield Lake – containing what the blurb calls the world’s largest and highest-grade uranium deposits.

December 6 & 9 – Lithium Plus Minerals

Lithium junior Lithium Plus Minerals (ASX:LPM) will release 900,000 fully paid ordinary shares from imposed mandatory escrow on December 6 and a further 1,950,000 fully paid ordinary shares from imposed mandatory escrow on December 9.

LPM will be applying for quotation of the escrowed shares upon their date of release and said there will be no change to the issued capital in the company as a result of the escrowed shares.

Lithium is certainly a hot sector right now and at the International Mining and Resources Conference in Sydney earlier this month LPM director Simon Kidston said lithium had a bright future and should be a component of investors’ portfolios.

“I’d suggest every portfolio should do with some exposure to lithium,” he said.

December 8 – Aeon Metals

Aeon Metals (ASX:AML) will release 3,790,847 fully paid ordinary shares from voluntary escrow. As Stockhead’s Reuben Adams recently reported AML has pulled up a thick 98m long intercept grading 2.56% recoverable copper equivalent (CuEq) from 319m at Amy West, part of the advanced Walford Creek copper-cobalt project in QLD.

This hit extends Amy West another 90m from a hole drilled in 2018, which returned 46m at 2.93% CuEq.

There are a bunch of assays outstanding, but the AML already thinks the mineralisation runs for another 500m.

 

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