EndeavourEndeavour acquires 37.88% interest in Crew Gold CorporationGEORGETOWN, Grand Cayman, Jan. 28 /CNW/ - Endeavour Financial Corporation ispleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, EndeavourFinancial Luxembourg SARL ("Endeavour" or the "Corporation") hasacquired 810,083,211 common shares of Crew Gold Corporation ("Crew") ina market transaction, which represents 37.88% of Crew's issued andoutstanding common shares, at an average price of NOK0.66 per share,for a total value of approximately US$92 million.
Neil Woodyer,Chief Executive Officer of Endeavour stated: "We've now made our secondequity investment as part of our gold-focused strategy and now havesignificant equity positions in two West African gold producers,Etruscan Resources Inc. (EET.TSX) and Crew Gold (CRU.TSX; CRU.OSE).Crew's LEFA Gold Mine, in the Republic of Guinea has been in commercialproduction since mid 2008 and is expected to produce more than 200,000ounces of gold in 2010. Now that the debt re-structuring process iscomplete, we believe Crew is well positioned to focus on optimizing itsoperations and building shareholder value. Endeavour looks forward toworking with Crew as growth and value creation initiatives areimplemented."
Cameron Belsher, Chairman of Crew Gold stated: "Iam delighted to have Endeavour as a key shareholder and long-termstrategic partner. Having recently re-structured our balance sheet andstabilized our shareholder base, we now have a foundation from which wecan deliver Crew's full growth potential. Endeavour brings bothstrategic and financial strength to assist us in achieving our growth."