Premier is pleased to announce that the refinancing of the Group announced on 3 February 2017 has now become effective.

Completion of the refinancing provides a solid foundation for Premier to deliver its strategic plans by preserving the Group’s debt facilities, resetting financial covenant headroom and extending maturities to 2021 and beyond. The revised financing structure allows both for debt reduction utilising the Group’s cash flows generated from its low cost stable production base, and future growth via selective investment in unsanctioned projects, at appropriate equity levels and with due regard to the commodity price environment.

In connection with the refinancing, Premier has today issued 71,012,952 equity warrants and 21,375,852 synthetic warrants to its Private Lenders and Retail Bondholders and 18,097,019 equity warrants to its Convertible Bondholders. The equity warrants have an exercise price of 42.75 pence and are exercisable from their issuance until 31 May 2022. Using last night’s closing share price of 61.75 pence per share, and by way of illustration, if the lenders were to exercise the warrants on a cashless basis net of the warrant price of 42.75 pence, then approximately 27.4 million new shares would be issued over the period to 31 May 2022, representing approximately 5.1 per cent of the enlarged share capital. Details of the synthetic warrants can be found in the circular sent to shareholders on 30 May 2017, which is also available on the Company’s website.

Tony Durrant, CEO, commented

"The completion of the refinancing process represents a significant milestone for Premier. We are grateful for the level of support received from our lenders during this process which has put Premier on a strong footing to deliver value for all of our stakeholders in the medium term."