Billionaire Andrew Forrest will invest more of his fortune in...

Billionaire Andrew Forrest will invest more of his fortune in the metals needed for decarbonisation with a proposal to make a strategic investment in Western Australian rare earths developer Hastings Technology Metals.

Mr Forrest’s private company Wyloo will lend $150 million to Hastings in the form of “secured, redeemable, exchangeable notes” assuming Hastings shareholders vote to approval the deal.

The $150 million face value of the notes represents about 34 per cent of the $435 million market capitalisation that Hastings had at the close of trading on Thursday.

Hastings would use the money to fund the purchase of a 22 per cent stake in Canadian magnet maker Neo Performance Materials; a transaction that would put it on track to become a more vertically integrated company in the long run, rather than just a miner of the upstream resource.

Neo, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, is a producer of permanent magnets and rare earth materials and owner of the only operating commercial rare earth separation facility in Europe.

Hastings, with Wyloo’s backing, has entered into a binding share purchase agreement with an affiliate of Oaktree Capital Management to acquire 8,974,127 shares in Neo at $C15 ($16.64) a share.