SouthernEra Resources has finalised an agreement to purchase 3,700,536 Messina shares from a consortium of shareholders.

The acquisition represents 18.4 per cent of Messina's issued and outstanding shares and increases SouthernEra's ownership in Messina to approximately 91.5 per cent.

In acquiring these Messina shares, SouthernEra has issued 10,546,528 of its own common shares, representing 12.4 per cent of SouthernEra's issued and outstanding shares.

SouthernEra President and CEO Patrick Evans commented: "For the past several years, we have been pursuing different strategies to increase our ownership in Messina Platinum.

"The equity dilution resulting from this transaction is more than offset by the increase in ownership of Messina. We are very pleased this transaction has now been finalised and we welcome the Messina consortium as new shareholders of SouthernEra."

Messina, which is listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange, has 100 per cent control of three platinum lease areas (Voorspoed, Doornvlei and Zebediela) at the Greater Messina Platinum Project.

"Through our increased control of Messina Platinum, SouthernEra has secured its position as one of the largest participants in the global platinum group metals (pgm) mining industry," Mr Evans added.

"With the resources currently under our control at the Greater Messina, SouthernEra has the potential to increase its production base by more than 300 per cent over the next three years, making us the strongest pgm growth companies."