NICKEL ASIA Corp. (NAC) has signed a deal to sell the company’s entire 15.625% stake in Coral Bay Nickel Corp. (CBNC), a nickel processing operator, to Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. (SMM).
In a regulatory filing on Monday, NAC said that it had signed a share purchase agreement (SPA) with SMM to sell NAC’s 15.625% stake in CBNC.
“NAC has jointly signed the SPA with SMM, effective today (Feb. 3), for the sale of all of the CBNC shares in accordance with the terms and conditions of the SPA,” the company said.
“The purchase price of the CBNC shares is based on the carrying amount of the CBNC shares in NAC’s financial statements as of Sept. 30, 2024,”it added.
According to the company’s third-quarter financial statement, NAC’s net assets in CBNC amounted to P23.81 billion, while the company shares were worth P680.4 million as of Sept. 30.
Earlier, NAC disclosed that it was in talks with SMM, the majority shareholder of CBNC, to sell its stake in the processing plant operator.
CBNC operates the Coral Bay high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) processing plant in Rio Tuba, Palawan, which processes metals from lateritic nickel ore. The metals are converted into nickel and cobalt-mixed sulfide.
The processed products are shipped and refined in Japan to become components in the electronics, chemical engineering, and aerospace industries. Refined products are also used as battery components for electric vehicles.
Nickel Asia supplies the ore for processing to the Coral Bay plant from its mining operations, namely Rio Tuba in Palawan, Taganito and Tagana-an in Surigao del Norte, the Cagdianao mine in Dinagat Islands, and the Dinapigue mine in Isabela.
Nickel Asia shares rose 4.15%, or nine centavos, to close at P2.26 apiece on Monday. — Adrian H. Halili