Morning everyone, it's Sha from STK Markets. We've got Southern Cross Gold, Mike Hudson here this morning. There's some big corporate movements happening this week at Southern Cross Gold. We've just come back from Christmas. Mike, you've got drill rigs spinning, the labs are working, more news flow to come. That stuff before Christmas, that gold was just amazing. Those high-grade hits just keep coming and coming and coming. I mean, kilos and kilos of the stuff is just amazing. Bigger, better, stronger. But welcome Mike, Merry Christmas and a happy, happy New Year.
Thanks Sha, great to be back. There was not much of a moment. Drill rigs are spinning and the assay lab didn't stop, and lots of momentum. And once you've got that momentum, you don't stop it. So lovely to be back in the public domain.
That's fantastic. It does help when your drill rig owners and the labs have got investments in your company and are still holding strong, so you've got all the right things happening there. But we've got a really interesting week happening which we need to update shareholders on. This has been in process for quite some time, the consolidation of Morrow and Southern Cross Gold into the one entity. Do you want to talk to that and how that's so relevant to existing investors and just the reasons why you've done it?
Yeah, so it's a very fundamental move that has been some time coming and it's nearly done. Over the next week you'll see some dramatic changes and by the end of January it will be done and dusted. So what are we doing? We're consolidating the two halves essentially of Southern Cross. The Sunday Creek asset was 50% owned by the ASX-listed Southern Cross Gold and essentially 50% owned by Morrow in Canada. Through a scheme of arrangement we're merging those two companies and they'll be called at the end of the day Southern Cross Gold Consolidated. And it will be a simple, much more investable product rather than having the split ownership. So we're going to bring more eyes to the story, it's going to make it more investable and just be a simple structure, which has been out there for the last few years because of escrow and then sorting out some of the structuring on how to bring the consolidation together. So simple story, simple structure, number one. And then it will be dual-listed, number two. We have half our shareholders in North America and half here in Australia, so they both need access and liquidity. And remember that the North American market was the market that enjoyed the benefits of the Fosterville story, which essentially started a whole cycle in Canada and funded a whole cycle with $10 billion of market cap appreciation. So it brought an incredible amount of wealth to the North American market that the Australian market didn't see, and that's only over the last five or six years. So the Canadians and North Americans understand high-grade Victorian gold without a doubt. So that will benefit, we believe, this story also and all shareholders. So simplification, more eyes, more eyes again with the dual listing.
I think it's ironic, Mike, you brought this back to Australia. Southern Cross Gold listed on the ASX. The last two years I've always spoken to you and you're on your way to the airport, you've been in North America, Europe, and that's where you've got the big buying from. But we've had one major issue, and I've seen this with other investments, a lot of the larger institutional investors, which can now invest in Southern Cross because it's over that $500 million market cap, they couldn't invest in you. And I've seen this time and time again because you had a shareholder that had more than 40% of Southern Cross, their mandate stopped them from investing. It was almost 49, 50%. So this structure that you've created moving forward, that eliminates that risk. So there's these whole new institutional long-term investors that can now buy your shares. Is that what you're hearing? I mean, that's what I'm hearing from my side. Is the company hearing that information too?
Oh yeah, we've heard it for some time that it was a clunky structure and uninvestable by some institutions. Notwithstanding, we've got about 20% of the register from institutions, but certainly it was a clunky structure and needed fixing, and that we've done. And we've done it in the most effective, cost-effective, tax-effective way. And it's going to be a big few weeks for everybody involved because it's been quite the process to put this all together. But you know, simplicity is really the story and that's really what we've got.
So just in terms specifically about the deal, you've got it happening, I believe, next Wednesday. Everything goes through, the shares consolidate. Is the stock code going to change so people have got it in their list, they need to update their watch list?
Yeah, so absolutely, the codes will change, the tickers will change. So there's a process, it essentially happens overnight for Southern Cross shareholders. But let me perhaps just talk about a few key dates. This is still subject to a second court hearing which occurs at 9:15 a.m. on Tuesday, January the 14th. Subject to that approval, and we're fairly confident that the court will see the benefits of the scheme as they did in the first, and 99% of shareholders or more approved the scheme. So it is something that we're confident in that will trigger the scheme. And then on Wednesday the 15th of January will be the last day that Southern Cross Gold as SXG trades on the ASX. But on Thursday the 16th, Morrow in Canada will dual-list in Australia through CDIs, and Morrow in Canada will be renamed Southern Cross Gold Consolidated. So on Wednesday, Southern Cross shareholders will trade as SXG. On Thursday they'll trade as SX2 as CDIs as the dual-listed Southern Cross Gold from Canada. What do shareholders have to do? Essentially nothing. There is a deferred settlement period from that day on Thursday the 16th until Friday the 24th. That means that settlements won't occur for 12 days. You'll be able to buy shares. If you've got a full-service broker, you'll be able to sell shares, and it will be broker-related as to how each shareholder will be able to deal on the market. But there will be no gap in trading between SXG and SX2. Now in Canada, Morrow will halt this Friday and it will be suspended until that Wednesday date in Australia, which will be Tuesday the 14th in Canada, and it will continue trading after that two or three day halt. The renamed Morrow Southern Cross Gold Consolidated will trade as SXG.C on the Venture Exchange in Canada. So lots of dates and things happening, but essentially shareholders don't need to do anything from the Southern Cross side in Australia. Computershare has a process and there's a lot of detail behind that, and we encourage shareholders to talk to us or their brokers if they're confused. But it should happen fairly seamlessly. In Canada, it should happen fairly seamlessly. If you've got your shares with a broker or an institution, you don't have to do anything. If you hold your share certificates, which the Canadians still do, then you have to send the share certificates back to the company. But very few shareholders are in that position. So no gaps in trading, relatively seamless. There is a process where the shares and the balance in Computershare and the registry will be sorting out everything between mid to late January, but by the end of January it will be all done by Friday the 24th.
