Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) acted as English law counsel to Versamet Royalties Corporation (“Versamet”) on its US$170m acquisition of a mining royalty and metals stream from funds advised by Appian Capital Advisory LLP (“Appian”). Canada’s Cassels Brock & Blackwell were lead counsel to Versamet, with Ogier providing Jersey law advice, Ilaria Mittiga Advocacia providing Brazilian law advice and ENSAfrica Namibia providing Namibian law advice.
The acquisition includes a 90% silver stream on the Rosh Pinah Zinc mine in Namibia and a 2.75% net smelter return royalty on the Santa Rita mine in Brazil together with the respective security packages.
Based in Vancouver, Canada, Versamet is a mid-tier precious metals royalty and streaming company focussed on acquiring royalty and streaming interests in precious and base metal projects.
Appian Capital Advisory LLP is a UK-based private equity firm specialising in metals, mining and adjacent industries, with management teams across select geographies and commodities.
The London WFW Energy team that advised Versamet was led by Projects Partner Daisy East, supported by Associates Esteira Hiwaizi and Kate Clancy and Trainee Sam Gunnewicht. Corporate and M&A Partner Jan Mellmann and Financial Markets and Products Partner Rob McBride provided additional support. Dispute Resolution Partner Andrew Hutcheon and Senior Associate Simon Jennings provided arbitration expertise.
Daisy commented: “We’re delighted to have helped Versamet acquire these royalty and stream rights. With our extensive expertise in the mining sector and finance transactions, WFW is uniquely positioned to provide advice on complex transactions such as this”.