Spac started by ex-Rusal M&A wiz hunts for green metals giant

ACG Acquisition (LSE: ACG), a new company founded by a mining executive who helped create aluminum giant Rusal, says it plans to buy a critical minerals producer valued at several hundred million dollars as soon as possible.

The new asset will form the core of ACG, a special purpose acquisition company, or “spac”, chief executive officer Artem Volynets said in an interview. 

“Our intention is to acquire a producing asset that we will bring to a London listing,” Volynets said by phone from London this week. “We will use it as a base for a roll up or consolidation, something that I’ve done in the aluminum industry.”

The team at ACG also includes Hendrik Faul, a former CEO of Anglo American’s (LSE: AAL) copper business and Warren Gilman, a former head of CIBC mining investment teams.

ACG prefers to buy a producer in the green metals sector, such as copper, nickel, cobalt or lithium, but it’s also considering gold opportunities, Volynets said. He helped lift Chaarat Gold (LSE: CGH) from early stages to produce 63,000 oz. of gold equivalent last year, when he stepped down as its CEO.

A copper smelter. Credit: Bombardho/Adobe Stock

ACG is betting green metal demand will surge even more after a looming recession, driving up commodity prices as nations intensify efforts to reach net-zero emissions targets. The global transition to electric vehicles and renewable energy is widely forecast to cost trillions of dollars.

Volynets said he’d like to buy one or two assets within quick succession as the slowing economy supplies a window of lower commodity prices and potentially cuts acquisition costs. He said he prefers to buy an anchor producer among the 38 countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, but he’s also considering Africa and Eastern Europe, though not Russia.

“The bigger the better because if it’s a producing asset we can also utilize debt as a part of the funding for the acquisition,” Volynets said. “Our goal is to do the transaction as quickly as possible.”

The CEO, who led the merger among Sual Group, Rusal and Glencore‘s (LSE: GLEN) alumina assets to create UC Rusal and its US$2.2-billion initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, said he’s in talks with scores of large-pocket investors keen to hear what his next targets will be. Subsequent acquisitions may include late-stage projects or small-producing companies with large projects, he said.

The company has also signed a US$100-million forward-purchasing agreement with Geneva-based IXM, the metals-trading subsidiary of Hong Kong- and Shanghai-listed CMOC Group.

“This is effectively a cornerstone commitment into the pipe,” Volynets said. “We tried to reduce the redemption risk that spacs usually have.”

ACG’s IPO on Oct. 7 at US$10 per share was oversubscribed in raising US$125 million, the CEO said. 

ACG was trading at US$9.90 on Friday, following a spike on Wednesday to US$10.30. Its market capitalization is US$123.8 million.