It’s been a busy day on the Australian stock exchange for acquisitions and related developments, with various companies from the technology to mining sector reporting on their progression through these processes.
In the ever-dominant mining sector, European Lithium Ltd (ASX:EUR) has seen its shares edge up more than 2% on news that Critical Metals Corp – a company in which it holds a majority share – has completed the first stage of investment for acquisition of the Tanbreez Greenland rare earth mine with an initial taking on of 36.45% equity interest.
Critical Metals Corp (CRML) is aiming to acquire 92.5% interest in the deposit from Rimbal Pty Ltd – a company led by geologist Gregory Barnes – and as per today’s announcement, it has completed the first stage of this process by upping its equity interest in Tanbreez to 42%, through the issuing of 8,398,656 CRML to Rimbal. This will mean that European Lithium will retain a 7.5% ownership in the Tanbreez Project.
Critical Metals Corp CEO and Chairman Tony Sage said that reaching stage 1 was a key development in the company’s acquisition plans for the mine, and would enable Critical Metals to become a long-term strategic supplier of light and heavy rare earth elements.
“Tanbreez is a game-changing rare earth asset for the West, an assessment supported by both our due diligence, including our visit to the project last week, as well as third-party evaluations,” he said.
Also on Wednesday, Diatreme Resources Ltd (ASX:DRX) has obtained more than 90% interest in shares held by silica sand explorer Metallica Minerals Ltd (ASX:MLM) as part of its offtake plan to acquire the latter company, with Diatreme urging Metallica shareholders to accept its takeover offer – which will close on August 6 at 19:00 AEDT.
According to the offer, Metallica’s shareholders would receive 1.3319 ordinary Diatreme shares for each ordinary share in the former company.
Given its interest has now risen beyond 90%, Diatreme is now seeking to compulsorily acquire any outstanding shares and begin the process of having Metallica removed from the bourse.
Meanwhile, engineering services company SRJ Technologies Plc (ASX:SRJ) is set to take on 100% of the capital issued by Air Control Entech Ltd (ACE), a UK-based business focused on leveraging advanced robotics and custom drone technology to provide remote inspection services to the oil and gas industry.
SRJ – which is based in Jersey – has executed a share purchase agreement to make the acquisition of ACE’s issued capital, with SRJ to pay a combination of ordinary shares in SRJ (traded on the ASX as CHESS Depositary Interests, or CDIs) and cash, with ACE shareholders to hold around 28% of the issued share capital in SRJ once the acquisition is completed.
The cash amount under agreement is approximately GBP£4.5 million (or around A$8.6 million) in cash and the balance by the issue of 175,249,279 New CDIs.
The acquisition comes after a strong period for ACE, with 64% revenue growth achieved in the Financial Year 2023, with a projected 174% growth for the 2024 Financial Year, maintaining strong gross margins of 75% and EBITDA margins of 41%.