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February 4, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Zamora-led Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC) has signed a share purchase agreement with its Japanese partner Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. (SMM) to formalize its exit in Coral Bay Nickel Corp. (CBNC).
In a regulatory filing, NAC said it signed the agreement with SMM for the sale of its stake in CBNC amounting to 15.625 percent of the firm’s total outstanding and issued capital stock. SMM currently owns 84.375 percent of CBNC.
“The purchase price of the CBNC shares is based on the carrying amount of the CBNC shares in NAC’s financial statement as of Sept. 30, 2024,” NAC said.
Last month, NAC said the volatility in the global nickel market forced it to divest its minority stake in CBNC, opting to focus on its upstream mining and renewable energy businesses.
“With the proposed sale of the CBNC shares, NAC has reclassified its investment in CNBC shares as available for sale and will no longer recognize equity gains or losses from its investment in CNBC,” NAC earlier said.
NAC vice president for treasury and investor relations Andre Dy earlier said the firm decided to revisit its growth strategy amid volatility in the global nickel market that negatively impacted the financial performance of CBNC.
“Over the last three years, the financial performance of CBNC was negatively impacted by increasing operating costs and weakening LME (London Metal Exchange) price,” Dy said.
“The divestment is seen to positively impact the NAC Group in furthering its ambitious growth and diversification objectives,” Dy added.
For the nine months ending in September 2024, CBNC posted a net loss of P3.22 billion, bigger than the P2.83 billion net loss it incurred in the same period in 2023.
Aside from CBNC, NAC has a 10-percent stake in Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp., another nickel processing firm.
NAC earlier said that it incurred P665.25 million in losses from its combined equity share in investments in the two high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) plants.
