Tower Resources is awaiting Namibia’s minister’s signature and stamping on documents transferring an interest in offshore Petroleum Exploration Licence 96 (PEL 96) to Prime Global Energies, the final step before Prime releases an initial payment of about US$625 000.
The company said on Monday that all other parties have executed the deeds of assignment for the farm-out, with the original documents now at the Upstream Petroleum Unit (UPU), where they are being checked before being returned to the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Energy for signature and stamping.
Tower described the outstanding process as a “necessary formality” that it does not expect to take long, bringing the transaction closer to completion more than 19 months after the farm-out was announced on 10 January 2025.
Prime has also waived the requirement for a formal completion meeting in London and has told Tower it will remit the approximately US$625 000 initial closing payment once it is satisfied that the deed of assignment has been executed and stamped by the ministry.
Further funding is expected to follow after Tower submits formal statements required under the farm-out agreement.
Tower chairman and chief executive Jeremy Asher said the company was eager to complete the transaction and advance work on PEL 96.
“We are grateful to the team at Namibia’s UPU and MIME for continuing to follow up our documentation so that we can complete our farm-out to Prime as soon as possible,” Asher said.
“We are as eager as our shareholders to push forward with our work programmes on both PEL 96 and the Thali NJOM-3 well, and we remain confident of the outcomes. This small subscription allows us to continue with work in the meantime, and so to mitigate the impact of the time taken for completion. We will update investors when we have more concrete news in respect of each license.”
The latest development follows a lengthy approval process for the transaction, which will bring Prime into Tower’s Namibian licence and provide funding towards its exploration programme.
Tower announced the farm-out agreement with Prime in January 2025 covering transactions in both Namibia and Cameroon. While the Namibian transaction has now progressed to execution of the assignment documents, completion remains dependent on the ministerial signature and stamping.
The delay is also contributing to Tower’s need for additional short-term funding.
The company announced alongside the licence update that it is raising £325 000 by issuing about 2.36 billion new shares at 0.01375 pence each, an approximately 8% discount to its closing bid price on 21 August.
Tower said the additional working capital was prudent because, even if its Namibia and Cameroon farm-outs are completed in August or September, it could still take several weeks for the company to receive the more substantial funding expected under the agreements.
The subscription will increase Tower’s issued share capital to about 45.16 billion ordinary shares, with the new shares expected to begin trading on AIM on or around 28 August.
Asher said the interim fundraising would allow Tower to continue working while awaiting completion of the transactions.
PEL 96 covers Tower’s offshore Namibian acreage in the northern Walvis Basin and contains the company’s principal Namibia exploration prospects. Completion of the Prime transaction would provide Tower with funding to advance the licence while reducing the amount it has to finance itself.
Despite reaching the final documentation stage, Tower has not yet declared the Namibian farm-out completed, with Prime’s initial payment remaining contingent on the minister’s execution and stamping of the deed of assignment.
