Lucapa Weighs Floating on London’s AIM

Jul 4, 2016 8:57 AM By Rapaport News

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RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company, which this year discovered Angola's largest diamond, is considering a listing on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), The Daily Telegraph reported.

The move comes after the company said it is expanding its operations and hunting for a major deposit. Lucapa said it is interested in floating on AIM despite the impact of ‘Brexit’ as investors have given the miner a positive response.

“The capital markets here are very knowledgeable about diamonds and about investing in Africa,” Stephen Wetherall, Lucapa’s chief executive officer, was cited as saying in the U.K. daily during a visit to London. “An AIM listing is an option we’re considering, and that’s why I’m here, to see what the appetite is.”

Wetherall admitted the outcome of the U.K.’s vote to leave the EU had him wondering “is it still worth me coming?”, according to the report, but he said the response from investors had been very positive.“People have got capital and they want to invest. And in fact Brexit seems to have settled some share prices down to a level that makes them very attractive,” Wetherall was cited as saying.

The miner, listed in Sydney and Frankfurt, last month started a program to seek the kimberlite source of a series of huge diamonds discovered at its Lulo mine in Angola, the largest of which weighed 404 carats.

Tags: africa, aim, Alternative Investment Market, Angola, london, lucapa, Lucapa Diamond Company, Lulo, Lulo mine, Rapaport News, stock exchanges, u.k.