Northern Graphite Signs Agreement to Acquire Ownership Interest in NeoGraf Solutions
Northern Graphite Corporation announced it has entered into a purchase agreement with Edgewater Capital Partners to acquire an ownership interest in NeoGraf Solutions.
NeoGraf is a leading provider of specialty, value added products manufactured from natural graphite and has a strong intellectual property portfolio and a blue chip customer base. NeoGraf is one of Northern’s largest customers.
Under the terms of agreement, Northern has a six month option to acquire an effective 50.1% voting interest and a 33.3% equity interest in NeoGraf and also has an option to increase its interest up to 100% at a later date subject to the terms and conditions of the agreement.
Northern has engaged Sprott Capital Partners LP to act as its financial advisor with respect to financing the investment. Closing of Northern’s investment is subject to the execution of definitive agreements, the receipt of all required third party and regulatory approvals including, if applicable, approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and to Northern completing satisfactory financing arrangements.
Northern Graphite has 3 graphite projects - Lac des Iles mine in Quebec, the Bissett Creek graphite deposit in Ontario and the Okorusu processing plant and the Okanjande mine in Namibia. The Bisset Creek mine is located near Renfrew, Ontario. The Bissett Creek graphite project is located near the Maria township, in Renfrew County, approximately 300km north-northeast of Toronto, in eastern Ontario, Canada.
NeoGraf, which is producing graphite and graphene materials, is one of Northern Graphite's largest customers. Northern Graphite says that this investment will enable Northern to integrate downstream into the manufacturing of graphite products for a number of high-growth markets including lithium ion batteries/EVs, fuel cells, graphene and nanomaterials, thermal management in consumer electronics, smart building products and fire retardants.
“The NeoGraf transaction is a major step toward integrating downstream to capture a greater share of the value chain and creating an industry leading mine-to-market natural graphite company with the ambition to produce low carbon footprint products.” He added that “We are pleased to be partnering with Edgewater which will enable us to complete the transaction in a very capital efficient manner. The combination of Edgewater’s performance materials expertise and our knowledge of the graphite industry will help enable NeoGraf to achieve its full growth potential.” Hugues Jacquemin, Northern’s CEO said.
“We are very excited to partner with Hugues and the Northern team,” commented Robert Girton, a Partner at Edgewater. “Their investment in NeoGraf clearly demonstrates their ‘mine-to-market’ strategy and enhances the security of supply and value that NeoGraf provides to its blue-chip customer base. Further, the collaboration between the organizations will serve to accelerate and expand the breadth of unique solutions which ultimately enable our customers’ commercial success.”
About Northern Graphite
Northern is a Canadian, TSX Venture Exchange listed company that is focused on becoming a world leader in producing natural graphite and upgrading it into high value products critical to the green economy including anode material for lithium ion batteries/EVs, fuel cells and graphene, as well as advanced industrial technologies.
Northern is the only significant graphite producing company in North America and will become the third largest outside of China when its Namibian operations come back online.
Graphite is the major component in Anode type batteries which consist of 48% graphite
The Company also has two large scale development projects, Bissett Creek in Ontario and Okanjande in Namibia, that will be a source of continued production growth in the future. All projects have “battery quality” graphite and are located close to infrastructure in politically stable countries.
About NeoGraf
NeoGraf Solutions LLC is based in Lakewood, Ohio where it operates a 395,000 s/f manufacturing facility on a 22 acre, company owned site. It has just over 100 employees and a strong R&D, materials science and application development capability with 10 R&D scientists and over 150 patents. NeoGraf is a global technology leader in the sale of highly-engineered specialty products, materials and additives which are largely based on natural graphite and proprietary technologies. It has a 100+ year history and a strong brand name with over 250 customers in 22 countries.
Edgewater Capital Partners
Edgewater Capital Partners is a Cleveland based, sector-focused private equity firm that invests in lower middle-market performance materials and service businesses. The firm has extensive experience and expertise investing in the people, technology, and facilities to accelerate the growth trajectory of niche manufacturers of specialty chemicals, life sciences, advanced materials, and engineered components. Over twenty years of industry specific investing has allowed the firm to develop a deep understanding of the complexities and nuances common to these businesses.
For additional information
Please visit the Company’s website at http://www.northerngraphite.com/investors/presentation/, the Company’s profile on www.sedar.com, (613) 271-2124.
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