Evolution Energy Minerals Ltd (ASX:EV1) today provided an update on the status of its investment agreement with BTR New Material Group Co Ltd, the world’s leading battery anode producer.
Under the agreement, BTR agreed to subscribe for shares representing 9.90% of Evolution at $0.22 per share, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions, including the completion of due diligence to BTR’s satisfaction by the end of January 2024.
BTR’s internal approval process is now nearing completion with final approval expected in the near future — at the latest by the end of the month.
Evolution reports that its chairman and managing director spent the first week of January in China with BTR presenting additional information to facilitate the investment decision.
To date, Evolution has not been notified of any issues with BTR’s due diligence and following recent discussions the company’s directors remain confident that BTR’s investment in Evolution will proceed.
Last August, EV1 executed a strategic investment agreement, a binding offtake agreement, and a "transformational" Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for downstream collaboration with BTR.
BTR's customers include Chinese domestic lithium-ion battery manufacturers, such as CATL, BYD, EVE, Gotion High-Tech and REPT, plus international tier one customers such as SK, Samsung (KS:005930), LG, muRata and Panasonic.
Shareholder vote
A shareholder meeting is set to be held on Monday January 8, 2024 at 3.00pm (WST) and it was originally anticipated that all other conditions to the BTR Investment would be satisfied by the time of the meeting.
However, to ensure that shareholders are voting on the BTR investment knowing the outcome of BTR’s final approval process, the directors have decided to withdraw resolution two — the approval to issue the BTR shares — from the upcoming meeting.
The other resolution to be considered at the meeting, resolution one — the approval of the issue of shares to ARCH — will be put to shareholder vote at the meeting as planned.