CALGARY, May 16, 2018 – Crown Capital Partners Inc. (“Crown”) (TSX: CRWN), which provides growth capital to successful mid-market companies, today announced the closing of a $25.0 million term loan (the “Agreement”) to Persta Resources Inc. (“Persta”), a Calgary-based company engaged in natural gas and crude oil exploration and production, with a focus on natural gas.
Founded in 2005, Persta is focused on long-term growth through exploration, development, production and acquisitions in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. Persta was one of the first oil and gas companies to target the Spirit River/Wilrich zones in the Alberta foothills. Persta holds approximately 120,000 net acres of land and currently has production of approximately 3,100 barrels of oil equivalent production per day (“boepd”), of which approximately 94% is natural gas and 6% is oil and natural gas liquids. Persta completed an Initial Public Offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in March 2017 and its common shares are listed under stock code 3395. Crown’s financing will be used for capital expenditures and to reduce the company’s senior debt facility.
“Persta has first-class assets in an attractive region and a highly accomplished management team that has been operating the company efficiently for the past 10 years,” said Chris Johnson, Crown’s President & CEO. “Despite a challenging environment, Persta has been able to generate significant cash flow based on its low production costs. The company has a low-risk, repeatable development program and is projecting significant increases in production as it continues to develop its Basing property and bring its Voyager property into production.”
“The Crown team has a deep knowledge of our industry and clearly understands the growth opportunity for Persta,” said Le Bo, President and CEO of Persta. “We’re pleased to add them as a financial partner as we implement our development plans and ramp up production.”
The Agreement provides for a $25 million term loan to Persta by Crown Capital Fund IV, LP, an investment fund managed by Crown and in which Crown holds a 36.5% interest. The term loan bears a fixed interest rate of 12% per annum, matures in 60 months, and includes the issue to Crown of warrants to acquire 8,000,000 common shares of Persta.
ABOUT CROWN
Crown (TSX: CRWN) is a specialty finance company focused on providing capital to successful Canadian and select U.S. companies. Crown also manages capital pools, including some in which Crown has a direct ownership interest. Crown originates, structures and provides tailored special situation and long-term financing solutions to a diversified group of private and public mid-market companies in the form of loans, royalties and other structures with minimal or no ownership dilution.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains certain “forward looking statements” and certain “forward looking information” as defined under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified using forward-looking terminology such as “may”, “will”, “expect”, “intend”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “continue”, “plans” or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements, management’s beliefs, expectations or intentions regarding the outlook and future performance of Persta. Forward-looking statements are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions that while believed by management to be reasonable, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors identified in the Crown’s periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. See Crown’s Annual Information Form for a detailed discussion of the risk factors affecting Crown. Crown undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information except as required by applicable law. Such forward-looking information represents management’s best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.