Eastern Platinum completes US$150 million private placement

On March 29, 2006, Eastern Platinum Ltd. completed a private placement of subscription receipts to raise $150 million. The receipts were sold to investors in Canada, the United States and Europe with the financing of the deal arranged by a syndicate of investment dealers co-led by GMP Securities L.P. and Canaccord Capital Corporation. The financing related to a proposed acquisition of three private companies that own a 69 per cent interest in Barplats Investment Ltd., a platinum group metals company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Fasken Martineau acted for the investment dealers, with a team that included Georges Dubé, John Sabetti and Krisztian Toth in Toronto, John Kim in Vancouver, and Al Gourley, Dimitri Cavvadas and Jan Bouwman in Johannesburg.