Abitibi Royalties Purchases Common Shares of Agnico Eagle Mines
VAL-D'OR, QUÉBEC--(Marketwired - Dec. 18, 2017) - Abitibi Royalties Inc. (TSX VENTURE:RZZ) ("Abitibi Royalties" or the "Company") announces that it has purchased 43,500 common shares of Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. ("Agnico Eagle") at US$44.00 per share for a total purchase price of approximately USD$1.9 million (CDN$2.5 million). The Company now owns 378,997 common shares of Agnico Eagle. The shares were acquired for investment purposes.
In February 2017, the Company announced that it had delivered 108,700 common shares of Agnico Eagle under its covered call contracts and that Abitibi Royalties would look to reacquire the shares, if possible, through short-term put contracts at prices below what they were sold. Put option details, including the remaining contracts to reacquire the Agnico Eagle common shares are outlined in Table 1.
Table 1. Agnico Eagle Put Option Details
| Type | Agnico Eagle Shares | Option Expiry Date | Strike Price ($USD) | Premiums Earned ($USD) | Price Shares Sold Jan. 2017 ($USD) |
| Put | 65,100 | Feb. 16, 2018 | $39.00 | $2.35 | $40.00 |
| Put | 43,500 | Shares Reacquired | $44.00 | $7.21 | $45.00 |
The Company's cash flow (dividends, covered call/put option premiums and other) in 2017 totals approximately CDN$2.2 million, where Abitibi Royalties expects it to end the year. This is up from approximately CDN$1.8 million as reported on October 30, 2017. Cash flow has been mainly used to buyback the Company shares under its Normal Course Issuer Bid ("NCIB"), purchase new royalties under the Abitibi Royalty Search and for administration expenses.
Under its current NCIB, Abitibi Royalties has acquired through the TSX-Venture Exchange, an additional 5,600 common shares (since last reported on October 30, 2017) at an average price of CDN$8.53. A total of 153,200 common shares have been repurchased since October 2015. As of this news release, the Company had approximately 11.4 million shares outstanding.
For more information on the Company's investments, dividends, individual covered call and put contracts and NCIB, please see the Company's Q3-2017 MD&A (prepared as of November 20th, 2017) and Q3-2017 Financial Statements, which can be found on the Company's website www.abitibiroyalties.com.
About Abitibi Royalties
Abitibi Royalties holds a 3% NSR on the Odyssey North and other portions of the Odyssey Project, Jeffrey Zone, eastern portion of the Barnat Extension and parts of the historic East Malartic Mine, where the mineralization is located inside the Malartic CHL property and a 2% NSR on a portion of the Gouldie and the Charlie zones, all at the Canadian Malartic Mine near Val-d'Or, Québec. In addition, the Company is building a portfolio of royalties on early stage properties near producing mines. The Company has cash (as of September 30, 2017, minus cash used to purchase Agnico Eagle shares outlined in this news release) and securities (as of December 15, 2017, including the Agnico Eagle shares outlined in this news release) with a market value of approximately CDN$37.7 million. The Company is debt free.
Golden Valley Mines Ltd. and Rob McEwen hold approximately 49.2% and 12.2% interest in Abitibi Royalties, respectively.
Forward Looking Statements:
This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or realities may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Contact
Abitibi Royalties Inc.
Shanda Kilborn
Director, Corporate Development
1-888-392-3857
info@abitibiroyalties.com
