NOT
FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION TO ANY U.S. PERSON (AS
DEFINED BELOW) OR IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES OR TO ANY PERSON
LOCATED OR RESIDENT IN THE UNITED STATES OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION
WHERE IT IS UNLAWFUL TO DISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT.
January 25, 2024
ZENITH ENERGY
LTD.
("Zenith" or the
"Company")
Bond exchange offer to
investors
Zenith Energy Ltd. ("Zenith" or the "Company") (LSE: ZEN; OSE: ZENA; OTCQB:
ZENAF), the listed international energy production and
development company with a focus on opportunities in Central Asia
and the USA, hereby announces that it is inviting holders
("Noteholders") of the
following outstanding series of notes (together, the "Existing Notes"):
· Euro 10.125 % Notes due on 27 January 2024
(XS2108546735) (the "Outstanding
EUR Notes")
· USD 10.125 % Notes due on 27 January 2024
(XS2108546651) (the "Outstanding
USD Notes")
· GBP 10.125 % Notes due on 27 January 2024
(XS2108546578) (the "Outstanding
GBP Notes")
to offer to exchange (the
"Exchange Offer") such
Outstanding Notes into the following new notes issued by the
Company (the "New Notes")
at an exchange ratio 1:1:
· Euro 14.625 % Notes due on 2 January 2026
(XS2736390472) (the "New EUR
Notes")
· USD 14.800 % Notes due on 2 January 2026
(XS2736390712) (the "New USD
Notes")
· GBP 14.875 % Notes due on 2 January 2026
(XS2736390985) (the "New GBP
Notes")
Further details of the Exchange
Offer and the New Notes, including the relevant final terms of the
New Notes, are set out in the Exchange Offer Document dated January
25, 2024, prepared in connection with the Exchange Offer and is
subject to the offer and distribution restrictions set out
below.
Settlement of the Exchange Offer is
expected to take place on or before February 23, 2024.
Investors, their agents, and
custodians may complete the Exchange via Bondpartners SA, Lausanne
/ Switzerland and Capital International Group London who will
facilitate the Exchange Offer as agents.
Before making a decision on whether
to exchange Existing Notes for New Notes, Noteholders should
carefully consider all of the information contained in, and
incorporated by reference into, the EMTN Base Prospectus dated 16
March 2023, as supplemented from time to time if necessary. They
should seek advice from any tax, accounting, financial and legal
advisers they may deem necessary. The EMTN Base Prospectus and its
supplements are available on the website of Zenith
(https://www.zenithenergy.ca/investors/bonds-credit-ratings/)
Noteholders are advised to check
with any bank, securities broker, or other intermediary through
which they hold Existing
Notes when such intermediary would need to receive
instructions from a Noteholder in order for that Noteholder to be
able to participate in, or (in the limited circumstances in which
revocation is permitted) revoke their instruction to participate
in, the Exchange Offer before the deadlines specified
above.
Further Information:
The technical instructions to effect
the exchange is set out in the Exchange Offer Document which can be
obtained from the following contacts. The Company is fully
available to answer any questions and requests for assistance in
connection with the Exchange Offer:
Zenith Energy Ltd
Andrea Cattaneo, Chief Executive Officer
|
Tel: +1 (587) 315 1279
E:
info@zenithenergy.ca
|
Each Noteholder is solely
responsible for making its own independent appraisal of all matters
as such Noteholder deems appropriate (including those relating to
the Exchange Offer, the New Notes and the Company, the relevant
Existing Notes) and each Noteholder must make its own decision,
based upon its own judgement and having obtained advice from such
financial, accounting, legal and tax advisers as it may deem
necessary, as to whether to offer any or all of its Existing Notes
for exchange pursuant to the Exchange Offer.
None of the Company or respective
directors, employees or affiliates makes any recommendation as to
whether holders of Existing Notes should offer any Existing Notes
for exchange pursuant to the Exchange Offer or refrain from doing
so and no one has been authorised by any of them to make any such
recommendation.
Disclaimer
This announcement contains important
information which should be read carefully before any decision is
made with respect to the Exchange Offer. If any Noteholder is in
any doubt as to the contents of this announcement or the action it
should take, it is recommended to seek its own financial and legal
advice, including in respect of any tax consequences, immediately
from its stockbroker, bank manager, solicitor, accountant or other
independent financial, tax or legal adviser.
Offer and Distribution Restrictions
This announcement does not
constitute an invitation to participate in the Exchange Offer in
any jurisdiction in which, or to any person to or from whom, it is
unlawful to make such invitation or for there to be such
participation under applicable securities laws and regulations. The
distribution of this announcement in certain jurisdictions may be
restricted by law. Persons into whose possession either this
announcement comes are required by the Company to inform themselves
about, and to observe, any such restrictions.
No action has been or will be taken
in any jurisdiction by the Company in relation to the Exchange
Offer that would permit a public offering of securities. The
Exchange Offer has been prepared on the basis that the Exchange
Offer in any Member State of the European Economic Area which has
implemented the Prospectus Directive (each, a "Relevant Member State"), will be made
pursuant to an exemption under the Prospectus Directive, as
implemented in that Relevant Member State, from the requirement to
publish a prospectus for any offer of securities.
United States
Each Exchange Offer is not being
made and will not be made, directly or indirectly, in or into, or
by use of the mail of, or by any means or instrumentality of
interstate or foreign commerce of, or of any facilities of a
national securities exchange of, the United States. This includes,
but is not limited to, facsimile transmission, electronic mail,
telex, telephone and the internet. The Existing Notes may not be
offered in the Exchange Offer by any such use, means,
instrumentality or facility from or within the United States or by
persons located or resident in the United States as defined in
Regulation S of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
"Securities Act") or to
U.S. persons as defined in Regulation S of the Securities Act (each
a "U.S. Person").
Accordingly, copies of this announcement and any other documents or
materials relating to each Exchange Offer are not being, and must
not be, directly or indirectly, mailed or otherwise transmitted,
distributed or forwarded (including, without limitation, by
custodians, nominees or trustees) in or into the United States or
U.S. Persons. Any purported offer of Existing Notes for exchange
resulting directly or indirectly from a violation of these
restrictions will be invalid and any purported offer of Existing
Notes for exchange made by a person located in the United States or
any agent, fiduciary or other intermediary acting on a
non-discretionary basis for a principal giving instructions from
within the United States will be invalid and will not be
accepted.
This announcement is not an offer of securities
for sale in the United States or to U.S. Persons. The Existing
Notes and the New Notes may not be offered or sold in the United
States absent registration under, or an exemption from the
registration requirements of, the Securities Act. The New Notes and
the Existing Notes have not been, and will not be, registered under
the Securities Act or the securities laws of any state or other
jurisdiction of the United States, and may not be offered, sold or
delivered, directly or indirectly, in the United States or to, or
for the account or benefit of, U.S. Persons. The purpose of this
announcement may not be sent or given to a person in the United
States or otherwise to any person other than in an offshore
transaction in accordance with Regulation S under the Securities
Act.
Each Noteholder participating in the Exchange
Offer will represent that it is not a U.S. Person and it is not
located in the United States and is not participating in the
Exchange Offer from the United States or it is acting on a
non-discretionary basis for a principal located outside the United
States that is not giving an order to participate in the Exchange
Offer from the United States. "United States" means the United States
of America, its territories and possessions, any state of the
United States of America and the District of Columbia.
United Kingdom
The communication by the Company of this
announcement and any other documents or materials relating to the
Exchange Offer is not being made, and such documents and/or
materials have not been approved, by an authorised person for the
purposes of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act
2000 (the "FSMA").
Accordingly, such documents and/or materials are not being
distributed to, and must not be passed on to, the general public in
the United Kingdom. The communication of such documents and/or
materials is exempt from the restriction on financial promotions
under section 21 of the FSMA on the basis that it is only directed
at and may be communicated to (1) those persons in the United
Kingdom falling within the definition of investment professionals
(as defined in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets
Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Order") or those persons who are
existing members or creditors of the Company within Article 43 of
the Order, and (2) to any other persons to whom these documents
and/or materials may lawfully be communicated.
France
Each Exchange Offer is not being made, directly
or indirectly, to the public in France. Neither this announcement
nor any other documents or offering materials relating to the
Exchange Offer have been or shall be distributed to the public in
France and only (i) providers of investment services relating to
portfolio management for the account of third parties (personnes fournissant le service
d'investissement de gestion de portefeuille pour compte de
tiers) and/or (ii) qualified investors (investisseurs qualifiés) acting for
their own account, all as defined in, and in accordance with,
Articles L.411-1, L.411-2 and D.411-1 of the French Code Monétaire et Financier, are
eligible to participate in the Exchange Offer. This announcement
has not been and will not be submitted for clearance procedures
(visa) of the Autorité des marchés
financiers.
Italy
None of this announcement or any other
documents or materials relating to each Exchange Offer, or the New
Notes have been or will be submitted to the clearance procedure of
the Commissione Nazionale per le
Società e la Borsa ("CONSOB") pursuant to Italian laws and
regulations.
Each Exchange Offer is being carried out in the
Republic of Italy as an exempted offer pursuant to article 101-bis,
paragraph 3-bis of the Legislative Decree No. 58 of 24 February
1998, as amended (the "Financial
Services Act") and article 35-bis, paragraph 4, of CONSOB
Regulation No. 11971 of 14 May 1999, as amended (the "CONSOB Regulation"). The Exchange
Offer is also being carried out in compliance with article 35-bis,
paragraph 7 of the CONSOB Regulation.
Noteholders located in the Republic of Italy or
beneficial owners of the Existing Notes can offer to exchange the
Existing Notes pursuant to the Exchange Offer through authorised
persons (such as investment firms, banks or financial
intermediaries permitted to conduct such activities in the Republic
of Italy in accordance with the Financial Services Act, CONSOB
Regulation No. 20307 of 15 February 2018, as amended from time to
time, and Legislative Decree No. 385 of September 1, 1993, as
amended) and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations or
with requirements imposed by CONSOB or any other Italian
authority.
Each intermediary must comply with the
applicable laws and regulations concerning information duties
vis-à-vis its clients in
connection with the Existing Notes, the New Notes or the Exchange
Offer.
General
Neither this announcement nor the electronic
transmission thereof constitutes an offer to buy the New Notes or
the solicitation of an offer to sell the Existing Notes and/or the
New Notes and offers for the exchange of Existing Notes for New
Notes pursuant to the Exchange Offer will not be accepted from
Noteholders in any circumstances in which such offer or
solicitation is unlawful. In those jurisdictions where the
securities laws, blue sky laws or other laws require an exchange
offer to be made by a licensed broker or dealer or any of their
respective affiliates is such a licensed broker or dealer or
similar in any such jurisdiction, the Exchange Offer shall be
deemed to be made in such jurisdictions by such affiliate, as the
case may be, on behalf of the Company in such
jurisdiction.
No action has been or will be taken in any
jurisdiction by the Company that would permit a public offering of
the New Notes.
In addition to the representations referred to
above in respect of the United States, each Noteholder
participating in the Exchange Offer will also be deemed to give
certain representations in respect of the other jurisdictions
referred to above. Any offer of Existing Notes for exchange
pursuant to each Exchange Offer from a Noteholder that is unable to
make these representations will not be accepted.
The Company reserves the right, in its sole and
absolute discretion, to investigate, in relation to any offer of
Existing Notes for exchange pursuant to the Exchange Offer whether
any such representation given by a Noteholder is correct and, if
such investigation is undertaken and as a result the Company
determines (for any reason) that such representation is not
correct, such offer may be rejected.
Notes to Editors:
Zenith Energy Ltd. is a revenue
generating, independent energy company with production, exploration
and development assets in North Africa and Europe,
including electricity generation in Italy. The Company is
listed on the London Stock Exchange Main Market (LSE: ZEN), the
Euronext Growth of the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE: ZENA) and
the Venture Market of the OTCQB
(OTCQB: ZENAF).
Zenith's strategic focus is on
pursuing development opportunities through the development of
proven revenue generating energy production assets, as well as
low-risk exploration activities in assets with existing
production.
For more information, please
visit: www.zenithenergy.ca
Twitter: @zenithenergyltd
LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3A5PRJb