This week saw the admission to Aim of Praetorian Resources, a mining and energy investment holding company set up by a group of well-connected former fund managers and mining executives led by Richard Lockwood and Malcolm Burne.
As well as raising £7m of cash at 50p a share, the company has put together a portfolio of mining and energy investments worth £17.3m through various share swaps. This means that companies including Galileo Resources, the Aim-quoted rare earths miner, and Sovereign Mines of Africa, the Aim-quoted gold explorer, are both shareholders in Praetorian and make up its assets.
Further investment of £2.3m is due from Longships, an Aim-quoted cash shell. Praetorian plans to use the cash to buy more stakes, driven by the view that there has been an indiscriminate sell-off in small resources companies during the past year and bargains are available.
Shares in Praetorian ended the week at 58.5p.