Western Areas Announces Successful Completion of Share Purchase Plan

PERTH, AUSTRALIA--(Marketwired - May 3, 2016) -

THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE U.S.

The Board of Western Areas Ltd (ASX:WSA) ("Western Areas" or the "Company") is pleased to advise that applications for the Share Purchase Plan ("SPP") have exceeded A$20 million, being significantly greater than the A$10 million cap announced on 31 March 2016.

Following careful consideration by the Board and in recognition of the substantial retail investor demand, the Company has decided to increase the SPP cap to A$15 million. Eligible applicants will still be allotted their allocated securities at an issue price of A$2.00/share, which was the same price paid by institutional and sophisticated investors under the A$60 million Placement completed on 31 March 2016.

Managing Director, Mr Dan Lougher, commented that, "the Company would like to thank shareholders for their continued strong support, which ensures Western Areas maintains a robust debt free balance sheet with the ability to fund prudent development and growth initiatives as previously announced."

Scaling Information

As outlined in the SPP booklet, some scaling of applications will be required and this will be based on the number of shares applicants held as at 30 March 2016 (Record Date). Shareholders should note that applications received pursuant to the Placement book build process also required scaling back.

The scaling method adopted will result in all shareholders receiving an approximate 134% uplift in their Record Date holding subject to:

1. A maximum allocation of A$15,000 (which equates to 7,500 shares at the SPP issue price of A$2.00). The maximum A$15,000 is limited by law.
2. Shareholders will not receive more shares than they applied for, irrespective of their shareholding.

Examples of allocations based on shareholdings at the Record Date are noted below based on an application for the maximum A$15,000 of new shares.

The shares issued under the SPP will be allotted on Thursday, 5 May 2016 and quoted on the ASX on Friday, 6 May 2016. Confirmation notices will be dispatched on Monday, 9 May 2016.

For shareholders whose applications have been scaled back, refunds of excess application monies via direct credit will be completed by 16 May 2016. Refund advices, together with refund cheques for those applicants who do not have bank account details and payment instructions recorded with the share registry, will also be despatched on 16 May 2016.

If investors have any questions about the SPP, they should telephone Western Areas' on +61 8 9334 7777. For registry related questions, contact Computershare Investor Services Pty Limited on 1300 727 692 (local call cost within Australia).

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT: This release contains certain forward-looking statements. Often, but not always, forward looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "anticipate", "continue", and "guidance", or other similar words and may include, without limitation, statements regarding plans, strategies and objectives of management, anticipated production and expected costs. These forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's ability to control or predict which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements.

This announcement does not include reference to all available information on the Company and should not be used in isolation as a basis to invest in Western Areas. Any potential investors should refer to Western Area's other public releases and statutory reports and consult their professional advisers before considering investing in the Company.