Uranium One has entered into an agreement with the US company Uranium Energy Corp for the sale of all of the shares of its subsidiary, Uranium One Americas (U1A).
The assets of Uranium One Americas are situated in Wyoming, and include seven uranium projects in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and five in the Great Divide Basin. The total purchase price is comprised of $112 million in cash and the replacement (with certain corresponding payments to Uranium One) of $19 million in reclamation bonding, Uranium One said.
The sale took place within the framework of the strategy of Uranium One to optimise the portfolio of uranium mining assets, aimed at increasing economic efficiency. Uranium One is the world’s fourth largest uranium producer. It comprises an international group of companies and is part of the management circuit of the Tenex group of companies of Russia’s Rosatom State Corporation. The company is one of the world's largest uranium mining holdings with a diversified portfolio of assets, which develops projects in Kazakhstan, Tanzania and Namibia.
Uranium Energy Corp (UEC) is an American uranium mining company with assets in Texas, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Paraguay. The closing of the sale is subject to certain regulatory approvals. UEC said the acquisition is fully funded with UEC’s existing balance sheet, which as of 26 October had over $235 million of cash and market value liquid assets.
Amir Adnani, President and CEO, stated: “We are very pleased that after a comprehensive and competitive bidding process, Uranium One elected to work with UEC to undertake the successful sale of their substantial uranium assets in the United States. This is a highly accretive transaction for UEC and represents great value to our shareholders. The purchase price is equal to only 12% of our current enterprise value, yet the acquisition doubles the size of our production capacity in three key categories: total number of permitted US ISR projects, resources, and processing infrastructure. The opportunity to acquire an advanced asset base of this quality from one of the global leaders in the nuclear energy sector is highly rare in the uranium sector anywhere in the world, let alone in our own home jurisdiction of the United States.”
Alexander Fedotov, Uranium One Chairman, and President of U1A, stated, “We are also pleased to share news of the signing of a definitive agreement by which UEC will acquire our US assets. This transaction will provide a material return for Uranium One’s owners and shareholders in the process.”
VTB Capital is acting as financial advisor to UEC. McMillan is acting as Canadian legal advisor to UEC and Holland & Hart is acting as US legal advisor. Haywood Securities is acting as financial advisor to Uranium One and Dorsey & Whitney as US legal advisor.
