-- Uranium Royalty (URC.TO, UROY) rose 6.6% in premarket Nasdaq trade after the company on Thursday said it agreed to acquire Sweetwater Royalties from funds managed by Orion Resource Partners and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan for US$1.9 billion, including debt.
The Vancouver-based company said it will switch its domicile to Delaware to complete the transaction. While keeping its Uranium Royalty name intact, it is referring to the switch as "New URC". Current shareholders will receive shares in New URC on a one-for-one basis, while Sweetwater owners will receive US$813 million in shares of the new company with a deemed price of US$3.64 and US$330 million in cash, while the New URC will assume US$625 million of Sweetwater debt.
The deal will create the second-largest landowner in the United States, excluding REITs, and the largest landowner in Wyoming, where it will control 850,000 acres of surface-fee rights and 4.5-million acres of mineral rights, adding to URC's existing royalty portfolio in Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin, Wyoming and Namibia. It will also make Uranium Royalty the largest publicly traded U.S. non-precious metals royalty company, it said.
The acquisition also brings Sweetwater's soda-ash royalty portfolio in Wyoming, where it controls 200,000 acres in Wyoming's Known Sodium Leasing Area for the industrial mineral used for the production of glass, chemicals and other industrial products.
"We welcome this transformational combination that will accelerate near term cash flows from competitive and reliable, long-life assets located in a top-tier jurisdiction, Wyoming, in which we have a great deal of affinity and familiarity. More importantly, it provides a strong financial base to allow us to fully realize and expand our uranium focus at a time of historic growth in nuclear energy. The global uranium market is experiencing a meaningful primary supply deficit, expected to drive significant capital investment in the years ahead," chief executive Scott Melbye said in a release.
The company said it will fund the transaction with cash on hand and a US$40-million offering of subscription receipts.
Uranium Royalty shares were last seen up US$0,23 to US$4.15 in premarket trade. They closed up C$0.25 to C$5.40 Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.