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» TWP tops rival's market cap
» TWP eyes growth in mining services
» African Eagle to swoop on JSE


TWP Finance springs into action
Allan Seccombe
Posted: Wed, 26 Mar 2008

[miningmx.com] -- TWP Finance, which plans to list in two to three years, has taken a five percent stake in junior explorer African Eagle Resources, and plans to increase that holding over the next 12 months to above 20%, CEO Dean Cunningham said on Wednesday.

TWP is looking to grow its value through taking equity stakes in resources companies around the world as well as securing royalty payments as it build critical mass towards a listing within three years, Cunningham told Miningmx.

TWP, a subsidiary of TWP Holdings the engineering company listed on the JSE, will vend assets into African Eagle to raise its stake to 20%-25%, he said.

not the only thing TWP is looking at
“We would like a 20 to 25% stake in African Eagle. It depends on how we do it, if it’s by putting projects in there and getting equity it could take six to 12 months. Over a 12 month period that’s where we’d like to be,” Cunningham said.

TWP brings with it the intellectual capital and skills base from its parent to develop projects. TWP and African Eagle will jointly secure new projects.

"TWP has certain skills, capabilities and assets that will complement African Eagle's extensive asset and skills base in the three countries we are focused on," said John Park, chairman of African Eagle.

The five percent stake was funded by a payment from the TWP Holdings. Calculations based on African Eagle’s share price on 25 March, put the value of the transaction at some R12m.

African Eagle’s shares were untraded on the JSE at 115 cents. On AIM, the shares were up 3% at 8.25 pence, still well off the high of just above 11 pence in early January. TWP Holdings’ shares were untraded by mid-afternoon South Africa time.

African Eagle already has copper and gold exploration prospects in Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique. TWP has other assets it could vend into the AIM and JSE-listed explorer.

TWP sees the current African Eagle footprint providing a stepping stone into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

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“There are a number of opportunities we have and are evaluating, but we need to sit down with the African Eagle management team and present them with some ideas,” Cunningham said.

“African Eagle is not the only thing TWP is looking at. We are dealing on a number of different fronts and different geographical jurisdictions and with different types of opportunities,” he said.

South African assets will make up 25% of TWP Finance’s portfolio and the rest of the world 75%, most of that coming from Africa.

“One of the biggest problems for getting into commodities in African states is to recreate relationships. African Eagle is exceptionally good at the on-the-ground relationships in the countries in which they operate and we anticipate it will flow to other parts of Africa.”

Cunningham, a mining engineer and financial expert who worked at Nedbank advised both African Eagle and TWP Holdings on the JSE, wants to bring TWP Finance to a separate listing too.

“It will be spun out and separately listed on the appropriate local or international market,” he said. “The timeframe is two to three years dependent on the market at the time.”