Northwestern Enterprises Ltd. Completes Acquisition of Ordinary Shares of Rio Novo Gold Inc.

TORTOLA, BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS--(Marketwired - Aug. 17, 2016) - Northwestern Enterprises Ltd. ("Northwestern"), a company beneficially owned by Paulo Carlos de Brito ("Brito"), announces that it has completed the acquisition of an aggregate of 95,480,414 ordinary shares ("Ordinary Shares") of Rio Novo Gold Inc. ("Rio Novo") pursuant to the previously announced purchase agreements entered into by Northwestern by with two separate sellers. The 95,480,414 Ordinary Shares (the "Purchased Shares") were purchased by Northwestern in private transactions at a price of $0.092 per share.

The Purchased Shares represent approximately 63.03% of the issued and outstanding Ordinary Shares (based upon the 151,482,253 Ordinary Shares stated to be issued and outstanding by Rio Novo).

In addition,concurrently with the acquisition of the Purchased Shares, Brito has caused an aggregate of 3,557,000 Ordinary Shares to be transferred from Sercor Ltd. ("Sercor") to Northwestern, representing approximately 2.35% of the issued and outstanding Ordinary Shares. Both Sercor and Northwestern are entities owned and controlled by Brito, and such transfer was effected without change in beneficial ownership of the applicable Ordinary Shares.

After giving effect to the acquisition of the Purchased Shares and the transfer of Ordinary Shares from Sercor, Northwestern now holds an aggregate of 99,037,414 Ordinary Shares representing approximately 65.4% of the issued and outstanding Ordinary Shares.

The acquisition of the Purchased Shares was completed as part of Northwestern's ongoing review of its investment holdings and to permit it to acquire a significant ownership position in Rio Novo. In connection with the increase in its position in Rio Novo, Northwestern intends to propose nominees for the board of directors of Rio Novo and to cause such nominees to be elected or appointed in accordance with applicable law, and to engage in dialogue with management and the board of directors of Rio Novo regarding strategic options available to the company.

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