Uranium One agrees to buy Canada-based Energy Metals
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By: Matthew Hill
Published: 4 Jun 07 - 14:47
Quelle: www.miningweekly.co.za/article.php?a_id=110281
Just over a month after JSE- and TSX-listed uranium miner sxr Uranium One (Uranium One) announced the completion of its acquisition of the Shootaring Canyon Mill in Utah, the US, the firm announced that it had agreed to buy another North American company, in the form of Canada-based Energy Metals Corporation (EMC), for C$1,59-billion, about R10,6-billion.
Uranium One, the second-biggest uranium company in the world after its acquisition of Urasia Energy, would pay for the firm in paper, to create a $7,8-billion uranium giant, and executive vice president for corporate affairs Jean Nortier said that, by 2013, the company expected to be producing 28-million pounds a year of yellowcake.
(World-number-one Cameco said recently that it expected to achieve a yearly production rate of 27-million pounds by 2011.)
EMC is based in Canada, but owns several US uranium projects.
Uranium One, also based in Canada, would pay EMC shareholders 1,15 common shares of Uranium One for each issued EMC share, representing a value of C$19,12 a share, based upon the closing price of Uranium One on the TSX on June 1.
This represented a 28% premium to the 20-day volume-weighted average trading prices of Uranium One's and EMC's shares on the TSX for the period ending May 17, which was the day before EMC announced that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with respect to a potential sale of the company.
Paradigm Capital analyst David Davidson said that the deal, which had been rumoured in the market for some time, came as no surprise.
He noted that the transaction would create some synergies, especially in Utah, where Uranium One had bought the Shootaring mill, speaking in a telephone interview from Toronto.
Davidson also added that EMC provided Uranium One a "pretty good platform" to realise its ambitions in the US.
The new company would have two producing mines and a pipeline of nine projects, with the potential to deliver year-on-year growth in production out to 2013, Uranium One said in a note to shareholders.
The acquisition agreement would also bring production at Uranium One’s Shootaring assets, in the US, forward by a year or two, Nortier said.
Speaking in a conference call from New York on Monday afternoon, Nortier said that Uranium One would probably not be looking at further US acquisitions in the medium term, but would rather diversify into other areas where the company had assets, specifically Australia.
Davidson said that, through acquiring EMC, Uranium One would be paying some $20 for each indicated uranium pound in the ground, which was "slightly on the high side", although there had been similar transactions over the past few months.
However, he noted that this could come down if EMC's reserves were expanded.
Nortier confirmed later in the day that, at the largest portion of the assets acquired through EMC, which were located in Texas, Uranium One anticipated costs at around $20 a pound.
"After the initial shock to the market, I think the deal will be seen as a prudent one," Davidson stated.
"With our solid position in Kazakhstan and South Africa, the acquisition of EMC fits in perfectly with our stated strategy of value-accretive external growth and our focus on growth in the US,” Uranium One CEO and president Neal Froneman said.
“The combination of Uranium One and EMC will create a powerhouse in the United States uranium sector with the potential to become the domestic supplier of choice for US utilities,” he stated, adding that its combined portfolio of assets would be geographically diversified, with assets in the world's top five uranium jurisdictions.
EMC president and CEO Paul Matysek said that the transaction provided EMC’s shareholders with immediate exposure to uranium production and cash flow, while at the same time creating new avenues for growth.
Shares in Uranium One fell 1,74% on Monday, and closed in Johannesburg at R109,90 a share.
Edited by: Liezel Hill
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