Davis launches $300m special-purpose entity, invests in Kazakh vanadium project
Energy and mining heavyweight Sir Mick Davis has announced the launch of a $300-million special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) as part of his drive to invest in materials and commodities that will enable a shift to a low-carbon economy.
Davis’ VisionBlue Resources (VBR) has partnered with private-equity firm The Energy and Minerals Company (EMG) as co-sponsors of NYSE-listed ESM Acquisition Corporation (ESM) - a $300-million SPAC.
Increasingly popular, SPACs are shell companies created for the purpose of raising funds through an initial public offering to acquire another company at a later stage. ESM floated in the US last month.
VBR said that ESM would identify and merge with a company and that it would focus on a target that was positioned to benefit from the global decarbonisation drive. This included the shift away from fossil fuels, the lightweighting and electrification of vehicles and the reduction of carbon emissions from key industrial processes.
Davis would lead ESM as CEO, and EMG cofounder and CEO John Raymond would take up the position of chairperson.
Meanwhile, VBR has announced an investment of $11.5-million in LSE-listed Ferro-Alloy Resources, which is developing the Balasausqandiq vanadium project, in Kazakhstan.
This is the second investment that VBR has made since its launch earlier this year – the first being a $29.5-million investment in the Molo graphite project, owned by TSX-listed NextSource, in Madagascar.
“The strong investment case for vanadium is clear not only from a steel demand perspective, but even more when considering the huge potential for vanadium redox batteries to play an integral role in the establishment of reliable ‘baseload’ renewable energy, capable of reducing the world’s reliance on fossil fuels,” said Davis.
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