Milbank LLP has advised Yellow Cake plc, a Jersey company founded and established by Bacchus Capital Advisors as a specialist company to operate in the uranium sector and hold long term physical uranium (“U3O8”), on the successful listing of its ordinary shares on AIM. The Milbank team also advised Yellow Cake plc on its associated entry into a long-term U3O8 supply contract with JSC National Atomic Company Kazatomprom, one of the world’s largest producers of uranium.
Following an oversubscribed book-build at the top end of the anticipated offer range, Yellow Cake plc has raised approximately US$200 million through an institutional placing and associated direct subscriptions, one of the largest capital raises on AIM this year. Approximately US$170 million of the proceeds will be used to purchase U3O8 under the Kazatomprom supply contract (representing roughly 25% of Kazatamprom’s annual production or 5% of the global marketed production of U3O8 in 2016), which will be stored in facilities operated by Cameco Corporation in Canada.
Yellow Cake plc intends to use its expertise to generate value with a strategy founded upon the long-term ownership of physical U3O8, alongside a range of activities and opportunities connected with owning physical U3O8, such as the trading of U3O8, optimisation of logistics associated with the trading of U3O8, generating revenue from the lending of physical U3O8 and uranium-based financing initiatives such as commodity streaming and royalties.
As issuer’s counsel, the Milbank team advised Yellow Cake plc on corporate and capital markets law, as well as the documentation of its U3O8 supply and storage arrangements. Complex, multi-faceted IPOs such as this demonstrate Milbank’s ability to work in a seamless and integrated fashion (including across a number of jurisdictions and practice areas).
Legal Advisors to Yellow Cake plc: Milbank LLP (English & NY law). Mourant Ozannes (Jersey law).
The Milbank team was led by London Corporate partner Stuart Harray, with Sarah Ullathorne and Helen Sutcliffe (also London Corporate), together with Apostolos Gkoutzinis and Tim Peterson (US Securities, London), Manzer Ijaz (Mining & Projects, London), Meredith Hines (US Securities, NY), Catherine Leef Martin and Megha Kalbag (Alternative Investments, NY), Luke Vassay (Tax, London) and Joel Krasnow and James Beebe (Tax, NY).
