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Petra Capital cuts ties with Oz Yellow in Eclipse Metals (ASX:EPM) uranium sale

ASX News, Materials
ASX:EPM      MCAP $20.07M
10 February 2022 14:53 (AEST)

The Ranger uranium mine in the NT, near Eclipse's Liverpool assets. Source: Eclipse Metals

Eclipse Metals (EPM) has been thrown a curveball in the planned divestment of its Northern Territory uranium assets after Petra Capital, which was meant to help facilitate the deal, dropped out.

Eclipse said in an announcement to the ASX that Petra was intending to terminate its deal with Oz Yellow, to whom Eclipse was planning to handball its NT assets. Eclipse did not specify why Petra made the call.

Oz Yellow and Eclipse first announced the divestment plan back in November 2021, with Eclipse agreeing to sell its interests in its Ngalia Basin uranium prospects and the Liverpool Uranium Project to Oz Yellow for a mix of cash and scrip.

As part of the deal, Oz Yellow planned to list on the ASX through a $20 million initial public offering (IPO), with Eclipse to receive 60 per cent of the newly listed entity’s shares in return for the NT assets. Oz Yellow would also pay Eclipse $255,000 in cash and grant the company a 4 per cent net smelter royalty over the tenements.

According to Eclipse, Petra Capital had been appointed sole lead manager, underwriter and book-runner to the Oz Yellow IPO, though the contract between Oz and Petra was conditional.

It seems one or more of the contract conditions must not have been met by Oz Yellow, however, with Petra today scrapping the deal and pulling out of its obligations.

At this stage, it’s uncertain what the loss of Petra Capital means for Eclipse, Oz Yellow and the uranium asset deal. Eclipse said it was in talks with Oz Yellow about how Petra’s decision impacted the potential deal and what the companies planned to do now.

Eclipse said it would update investors as discussions progressed.

The news has dealt a blow to Eclipse’s share price, which was down 6.38 per cent to 4.4 cents at 1:46 pm AEDT.

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