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(Bloomberg) — A unit of Australian miner European Lithium Ltd. has agreed to go public on Nasdaq via a merger with blank-check firm Sizzle Acquisition Corp.
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The deal will give the mixed enterprise a market worth of about $972 million, assuming there aren’t any redemptions, in response to a press release on Monday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg Information report. The merged entity Essential Metals Corp. will personal European Lithium’s venture in Wolfsberg, Austria, which might be the primary licensed lithium mine in Europe.
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Western Australia-based European Lithium, led by Chief Govt Officer Dietrich Wanke, in August introduced an settlement with BMW AG to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide, its web site reveals. The agency hopes so as to add customers together with electric-vehicle and battery producers within the area.
“The venture is poised to turn into the primary main supply of battery-grade lithium focus in Europe, the world’s main EV market, able to supporting the manufacturing of roughly 200,000 EVs per 12 months,” Essential Metals Govt Chairman Tony Sage mentioned within the assertion. “We consider we can obtain our business targets by 2025.”
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Demand for lithium, a cloth that’s key to the renewable-energy transition, is forecast to virtually triple by mid-decade from final 12 months’s degree, BloombergNEF mentioned in a July report. Nations together with the US have raised issues over China’s domination of refining and manufacturing capability for key supplies like lithium, uncommon earths and cobalt.
Primarily based on a pre-feasibility research, European Lithium mentioned it expects Wolfsberg to produce roughly 10,500 metric tons of lithium focus yearly by 2025. On Monday, the corporate had requested a buying and selling halt “pending an announcement concerning a proposed merger transaction.”
Sizzle, a particular objective acquisition firm, raised $155 million in a November 2021 preliminary public providing. As its largest shareholder, European Lithium plans to appoint 4 of the 5 board members of the mixed enterprise. The deal might be accomplished within the first half of 2023.
Australian-listed Safety Issues Ltd. struck a take care of a US particular objective acquisition firm in July, partially to acquire a Nasdaq itemizing.
—With help from Harry Brumpton and Jason Scott.
(Updates with firm affirmation all through.)
