Argos Capital Management, the UK alternative investment manager, has unlocked a 360 per cent paper profit by exercising a right to buy shares in Dublin-listed oil and gas explorer Aminex at a deeply discounted price.
Aminex, whose shares have soared almost 400 per cent from their lows of last year, said on Tuesday that Argos had exercised a right to buy 167.5 million shares – equivalent to 4.6 per cent of the company which has a market value of £159 million (€185 million) – at a price of 1p each.
The shares were worth 4.6p each at the time of the announcement, giving the stake a value of £7.7 million and delivering a paper gain of more than £6 million. They subsequently fell in value.
The rights to buy the stake stemmed from financial instruments known as warrants attached to a $8 million (€7.2 million) loan facility provided by Argos Capital Management to Aminex in January 2013.
Aminex's share surge in recent months has been driven by increased optimism around the prospects of its Ntorya gas project in Tanzania.
