Vulcan Energy Resources, a material exploration company, secured €40 million (~$44 million) through strategic investments. The breakdown of this funding includes €25 million (~$27 million) from CIMIC Group for 10 million shares, €12.5 million (~$13.6 million) from Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd for 5 million shares, and €2.5 million (~$2.7 million) from Victor Smorgon Group for 1 million shares, all through private placements.
The funds raised will facilitate the early validation processes for the Engineering Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) contract related to Vulcan’s Phase One lithium plant. This includes various tasks such as engineering and advanced ordering of critical components. Sedgman, a subsidiary of CIMIC, along with HOCHTIEF, will oversee the EPCM validation.
The investment was made at a price of €2.50 (~$2.72) per share, representing a 9% discount from Vulcan’s 30-day volume-weighted average price on the ASX prior to the date of the announcement.
MD and CEO Cris Moreno stated, “Today’s investments into Vulcan by CIMIC Group and Hancock Prospecting come at a particularly exciting time for Vulcan as we make significant headway towards developing Phase One of our flagship integrated renewable energy and ZERO CARBON LITHIUMTM Project. The substantial investments by both parties will enable the early commencement of important validation works ahead of the formal EPCM contract, maintaining momentum on the project timeline and optimizing the overall execution program as we move towards final funding and construction.”
According to Mercom’s Q1 2024 Funding and M&A Report for Storage & Smart Grid, Corporate funding in Energy Storage came to $11.7 billion in 29 deals in Q1 2024, an increase of 432% year-over-year (YoY) compared to $2.2 billion in 27 deals in Q1 2023. In a quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) comparison, funding increased 216% compared to the $3.7 billion raised in 26 deals in Q4 2023.
Li-Cycle, a lithium-ion battery recycling company, recently completed a $50 million aggregate investment in common shares from LG Energy Solutions (LGES) and LG Chem (LGC). Following the investment, LGES and LGC collectively hold 5,300,352 Common Shares, representing approximately 3% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares in the company’s capit
