Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. announced a US$297 million equity financing package to advance its Phase-2 Matawinie Mine toward a Final Investment Decision, or “FID”.
The package includes a US$213 million private placement with Canada Growth Fund (US$82 million), the Government of Québec (through Investissement Québec, US$61 million), and Eni S.p.A. (US$70 million) and a concurrent US$84 million bought deal public offering of subscription receipts. Together with the previously announced US$335 million senior project debt commitment from Export Development Canada and the Canada Infrastructure Bank, the equity financing is expected to fully fund the Phase-2 Matawinie Mine and position NMG to proceed to FID and construction.
NMG’s key assets include the Matawinie graphite mine and concentrator and the Bécancour battery material plant in Bécancour, Québec. When completed, the Company’s mine-to-battery material plant operations are expected to constitute the first fully integrated natural graphite active anode material production of its kind in North America, providing a carbon-neutral, Canadian source of natural graphite for the electric vehicle and lithium-ion battery market. The Company has also recently acquired a brownfield site adjacent to its greenfield Bécancour property to build a first-stage 13,000 tpa Bécancour Battery Material Plant dedicated to Panasonic Energy.
The participation of CGF and IQ in the private placement constitutes a “related party transaction” for the purposes of Regulation 61-101 respecting Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions. Accordingly, completion of the private placement is subject to “majority of the minority” shareholder approval, excluding votes attached to shares held by CGF, IQ, and their respective affiliates.
Fort Capital Partners provided the Board of NMG with an independent formal valuation of the Company in accordance with Regulation 61-101, as well as a fairness opinion with respect to the related party components of the private placement.
A copy of Fort Capital’s written opinions will be included in the NMG Management Information Circular to be sent to shareholders.
Read the full press release here: https://nmg.com/nmg-announces-equity-financing-package/