WINNIPEG, Tuesday, May 31, 2011 – Empire Industries Ltd. (“Empire” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: EIL) is pleased to announce that it closed the previously announced private placement of Units for aggregate gross proceeds of $2,100,000. The proceeds from the financing will be used for working capital purposes for Empire’s North American activities.
The Private Placement placed a total of 42,000,000 Units at a price of $0.05 per Unit with each Unit consisting of one (1) Common Share in the capital of the Company (“Common Share”) and one Common Share Purchase Warrant (“Warrant”). Each whole Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one (1) Common Share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.10 until expiry on May 31, 2013. The Common Shares, Warrants and Common Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants are subject to a four month hold period. The Company also issued a total of 3,200,000 Finder’s Options, with each Finder’s Option exercisable into one Unit at a price of $0.05 per Unit, expiring May 31, 2012. In addition, the Company paid $160,000 in cash finder’s fees. As part of the private placement, $100,000 of the Company’s 10% convertible debentures were redeemed and the funds were reinvested by the holders in the private placement. Mr. Qiguang Qiu did not participate in the private placement in this closing as it is contemplated that he will participate in an equity financing at a later date, subject to regulatory approval.