Canadian battery metals firm DeepGreen Metals has agreed to merge with special purpose acquisition company Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corporation (SOAC) to go public.
The deal values the combined company at $2.9bn and includes a private investment in public equity (PIPE) of $330m, priced at $10 per share.
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The PIPE investors include Allseas, Maersk Supply Service, Glencore, and certain strategic and institutional investors.
DeepGreen Metals is engaged in developing battery metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules.
The company has exploration and commercial rights to three polymetallic nodule contract areas across the Pacific Ocean’s Clarion Clipperton Zone, backed by the Nauru, Kiribati, and Tonga governments.
Upon the completion of the deal, the combined entity will be renamed as ‘TMC the metals company’ and will operate as The Metals Company.
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By GlobalDataAdditionally, The Metals Company will be publicly traded company with a listing expected to be on either the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or Nasdaq.
DeepGreen Metals chairman and CEO Gerard Barron said: “The reality is that the clean energy transition is not possible without taking billions of tons of metal from the planet. Seafloor nodules offer a way to dramatically reduce the environmental bill of this extraction.
“We are getting into this industry with a deep commitment to ocean health and a clear stop date in mind. The plan is simple: produce better metals to supply the EV transition, while building up enough metal stock to stop extracting from the planet and enable society to live off recycled metals.”
According to DeepGreen Metals, the firm’s process for producing metals from polymetallic nodules involve near-zero solid waste thus avoiding the need for tailings dams on land.
Subject to the approvals of both the firms’ shareholders and other customary closing conditions, the deal is anticipated to be closed in the second quarter of 2021.
