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Uranium Royalty, Orion and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan to Create a Leading Royalty Platform Through Combination of Uranium Royalty and Sweetwater Royalties
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Uranium Royalty, Orion and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan to Create a Leading Royalty Platform Through Combination of Uranium Royalty and Sweetwater Royalties Canada NewsWire
Creating a Cash-Flowing Royalty Leader with One of the Largest U.S. Land Positions, Offering Long-Term Potential Growth and Optionality Across Uranium and Critical Minerals at a Time of Renewed Focus on Domestic Supply Chains
VANCOUVER, BC, April 16, 2026 /CNW/ - Uranium Royalty Corp. (NASDAQ: UROY) (TSX: URC) ("URC" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an arrangement agreement (the "Arrangement Agreement") to combine with entities owning a 92% interest in Sweetwater Royalties ("Sweetwater") from funds managed by Orion Resource Partners LP ("Orion") and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan ("Ontario Teachers'", together with Orion, the "Sellers") (the "Transaction"). The Transaction implies a 100% enterprise value for Sweetwater of approximately US$1.9 billion (based on US$625 million of debt outstanding as of April 1, 2026) and an attributable equity value to be acquired by URC of approximately US$1.1 billion.
Under the Transaction, Sweetwater and URC will combine under a newly formed U.S. domiciled parent company, "Uranium Royalty Corp." ("New URC"), which will apply to have its shares of common stock ("New URC Shares") listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market. On completion of the Transaction, the Sellers will receive approximately US$330 million in cash and US$813 million in New URC Shares at a deemed value of US$3.64 per New URC Share, subject to adjustment under the Arrangement Agreement. See "Transaction Details" and "Transaction Funding" below.
Scott Melbye, Chief Executive Officer, President and Director of URC stated: "We welcome this transformational combination that will accelerate near term cash flows from competitive and reliable, long-life assets located in a top-tier jurisdiction, Wyoming, in which we have a great deal of affinity and familiarity. More importantly, it provides a strong financial base to allow us to fully realize and expand our uranium focus at a time of historic growth in nuclear energy. The global uranium market is experiencing a meaningful primary supply deficit, expected to drive significant capital investment in the years ahead. This enhanced, newly formed royalty leader will be uniquely positioned to capitalize on favorable market dynamics."
Jon Lamb, Managing Partner of Orion and Chairman of Sweetwater, commented: "URC was built as the first and only uranium-focused royalty company, and this strategic combination represents a natural evolution into a first-of-its-kind platform combining high-quality royalty cash flows with one of the largest land holdings in the United States. Importantly, that land base provides significant long-term embedded growth potential and optionality across uranium and other critical minerals, reinforcing the strategic value of this platform at a time of renewed focus on domestic critical supply chains. As long-term investors in the mining sector, we see a compelling opportunity to combine durable, industrial-based cash flows with uranium exposure, creating a differentiated and scalable royalty company positioned for disciplined growth. We look forward to being a partner as New URC executes on this strategy."
Transaction Highlights
Immediate and Significant Cash Flow Generation: The Transaction adds a well-established, unique, cash flowing royalty portfolio with long reserve lives(1) and ~50 years of stable historical cash flows. Sweetwater royalties are underpinned by industry-leading assets and operators, generating, on a 100% basis, average adjusted EBITDA(2) of ~US$74 million in each of the last two fiscal years.
Premier U.S. Land Position: Pro Forma URC will become the second largest public company landowner in the United States (excluding REITs) and the largest landowner in Wyoming (with approximately 850,000 acres of fee surface rights, and approximately 4.5 million acres of mineral rights in fee). Sweetwater's extensive land package covers Wyoming's Green River Basin, the world's largest known trona deposit and provides an element of control uncommon in the royalty space.
Significant Growth Profile: Underlying Sweetwater assets have or are undertaking production expansions and, based on operator disclosures and information, are expected to increase attributable soda ash production capacity by over 60% in the coming years, without requiring incremental capital investment from New URC. Greenfield projects have the potential to further increase total royalty attributable capacity with additional potential upside from uranium royalties and streams.
Increased Scale and Attractive Valuation: The Transaction is expected to transform URC into the largest publicly traded U.S. non-precious metals royalty company, positioning it for potential trading re-rate through increased operating scale. The combination is also significantly accretive to net asset value, cash flow and earnings per share.
Orion and Ontario Teachers' Maintaining Significant Equity Exposure: Upon closing, Orion and Ontario Teachers' are expected to hold approximately 43% and 16% (prior to the effects of any additional pre-closing financing), respectively, of New URC's pro forma shares outstanding. Each will be party to investor rights and support agreements, adding two supportive institutional shareholders to URC's strong shareholder base.
Uniquely Positioned to Accelerate Inorganic Uranium Royalty Growth: Strong free cash flow backed balance sheet will support disciplined, value-accretive uranium royalty acquisitions. Widening uranium supply gap enhances strategic inorganic growth opportunities and accelerates New URC's market positioning.
Enhanced Uranium Optionality: Sweetwater's land position provides significant uranium exploration potential in Wyoming, the leading U.S. state for uranium production and resources.
Sweetwater Royalties Highlights
Sweetwater is a privately held land and mineral royalty company headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado. The company combines a high-quality portfolio of revenue-based mineral royalties with one of the largest private land positions in the United States, creating a durable cash flow platform with significant long-term optionality.
Sweetwater represents a rare combination of:
Production revenue royalties on assets with relatively long reserve lives(1)
Stable historical cash flows
Significant embedded production growth with no owner capital required
Significant surface and mineral land optionality in a Tier-1 jurisdiction uncommon for traditional royalty and streaming companies
Sweetwater's land holding includes approximately 200,000 acres situated within the Known Sodium Leasing Area ("KSLA") and an additional 650,000 fee surface acres. Furthermore, Sweetwater's portfolio includes approximately 4.5 million acres of mineral rights across its regional operations.
(1)
Sweetwater reserve life estimate based on USGS data on available soda ash reserves in Wyoming divided by current annual production rate; provided for general illustrative purposes and is not intended to constitute a reserve estimate or other economic study.
Sweetwater's Soda Ash Royalties
Sweetwater's primary assets are production revenue royalties calculated on a per ton basis for each sale of sodium mineral products produced or extracted from the applicable leased premises (net of certain deductions) over five operating soda ash mines and two advanced greenfield natural soda ash projects located in Wyoming in the KSLA. The royalties are equal to the greater of (i) a royalty rate of eight percent (8.0%) of the sale price of such sodium mineral products or (ii) the highest royalty rate under any then-existing federal, state, or private sodium lease in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, paid by the lessee, in each case calculated in accordance with the terms of the applicable lease agreement and subject to the terms and conditions of such agreement, less, in some cases, certain deductions for commissions, discounts, sales and use taxes and handling costs to customary destinations. These operations are owned and operated by leading global industry participants, including WE Soda, Tata Chemicals, Şişecam and Solvay (American Soda). The royalty portfolio is underpinned by the Green River Basin, which hosts the world's largest known deposit of natural trona. Wyoming accounts for approximately 90% of global natural trona reserves, making Sweetwater's land position uniquely strategic.
Mineral ownership within the KSLA in the Green River Basin is checkerboarded between Sweetwater and governmental entities, and Sweetwater has generally received a royalty on approximately half of the soda ash production and sales from the basin over time. The amount Sweetwater receives will depend on the mining plans of the individual operators as they mine between government and Sweetwater lands.
Sweetwater's royalty assets have demonstrated consistent performance, generating average adjusted EBITDA(2) of approximately US$74 million (on a 100% basis) over the past two fiscal years. The underlying mines have operated for approximately 50 years. Several of the operators have announced that they have, or are embarking, on expansions which have the potential to lead to increased production capacity tied to Sweetwater's royalty land in the coming years. Furthermore, the two advanced greenfield projects are of significant scale which could materially increase royalty cash flows once in operation. See "About Sweetwater" below for further information.
(2)
Adjusted EBITDA is based on Sweetwater financial statements and is calculated by adding interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization expenses back to a company's net income as well as adjusting for advanced minimum royalties and gain on land sale.
Operators
Ownership
Operation
Stage
Mine Type
Şişecam Wyoming
51% Şişecam Wyoming and
49% Natural Resource Partners
Big Island
Operating
Underground, Room and Pillar
Pacific Soda LLC
100% Pacific Soda LLC
(subsidiary of Şişecam Chemicals USA Inc.)
Dry Creek Trona Project
Greenfield Project
Solution
American Soda
100% American Soda
(subsidiary of Solvay S.A.)
American Soda
Operating
Underground, Longwall
Tata Chemicals
100% Tata Chemicals
Alchem
Operating
Underground Room and Pillar
WE Soda
100% WE Soda
Westvaco
Operating
Underground, Longwall and Solution
WE Soda
100% WE Soda
Granger
Operating
Underground Flooded Solution
WE Soda
100% WE Soda
Project West
Greenfield Project
Solution
Sweetwater's Land Optionality
Outside of the KSLA, Sweetwater owns an additional 650,000 fee surface acres and approximately 4.5 million acres of mineral rights across its regional operations.
In recent years, Sweetwater has expanded its business strategy to generate additional revenue streams that capitalize on its extensive surface and mineral footprints, including renewable energy royalties, with more than 300,000 surface acres under lease for potential renewable energy development.
Management believes the scale, location, and strategic characteristics of Sweetwater's surface and mineral estates may provide the potential for additional long-term value creation through other land uses and development opportunities. These may include, among other things, data centers, real estate development, ranching and grazing, battery storage, critical minerals, and infrastructure-related uses.
Furthermore, management believes the scale, location, and geologic setting of Sweetwater's surface and mineral estates may provide potential long-term uranium optionality on certain portions of the land package.
Soda Ash
Soda ash is one of the most widely consumed inorganic industrial materials in the world and is commonly produced and sold as an odorless white powder that is soluble in water. Soda ash is a chemical refined from mineral trona and is a key input in the manufacture of, among other things, glass, chemicals and other industrial products. Approximately 50% of soda ash consumption is attributable to the glass manufacturing industry, including container glass, flat glass, and fiberglass applications. Other applications include water treatment, detergents and soaps, paper production, textiles, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products. Sodium bicarbonate produced from soda ash is also used in food production, including baked goods, household cleaning products, and medicinal formulations. Additionally, soda ash is a key ingredient in lithium production, solar panel glass and sodium batteries, providing an additional upside potential on the back of growing EV adoption.
Soda ash is produced either synthetically or naturally, through various mining methods. Natural and synthetic soda ash are chemically identical and are interchangeable within the vast majority of industrial applications for which they are used. Natural soda ash is generally regarded as having a meaningfully lower cash cost of production than synthetic soda ash, primarily due to its lower energy intensity and reduced raw material input costs. It is also typically viewed as a more environmentally favorable production route.
The combination of durable soda ash royalties, land-based recurring income and strategic mineral optionality positions Sweetwater as a unique royalty platform that complements and diversifies URC's existing uranium royalty portfolio and allows URC to fund an accelerated uranium royalty and stream growth strategy.
Uranium Royalty Highlights
URC is the world's only uranium-focused royalty and streaming company and the only pure-play uranium royalty company listed on the NASDAQ. URC provides investors with direct exposure to uranium commodity prices through a diversified strategy of acquiring and managing uranium interests, including royalties, streams, debt and equity in uranium companies, as well as holdings of physical uranium.
The Company has assembled a globally diversified portfolio of high-quality uranium assets, anchored by cornerstone royalties on some of the world's most significant and lowest-cost uranium operations. Key assets include interests in the McArthur River Mine and Cigar Lake Mine, operated by Cameco, in Canada's Athabasca Basin, widely recognized as the premier uranium jurisdiction globally. URC's portfolio also provides exposure to near term cash flow through project restarts, such as the Lance Project, operated by Peninsula Energy, in Wyoming and the Langer Heinrich Mine in Namibia, operated by Paladin. Development-stage assets include projects such as Uranium Energy Corp's Roughrider Project in Saskatchewan, Canada. URC provides both geographic diversification and leverage to future uranium supply growth.
In addition to its royalty and streaming portfolio, URC has bought and sold significant inventories of physical uranium, further enhancing its direct sensitivity to uranium price movements and offering investors a hybrid exposure model that combines financial instruments with commodity ownership.
URC's management team and Board comprise individuals with decades of combined experience in the uranium and nuclear energy sectors, including global expertise in mine finance, project identification and evaluation, mine development, government affairs, and uranium marketing and trading. This specialized capability underpins the Company's disciplined investment approach and its ability to partner with leading operators globally.
Transaction Details
The Transaction will be implemented by way of a statutory plan of arrangement under the Canada Business Corporations Act (the "Arrangement"). Prior to completion of the Arrangement, Orion and Ontario Teachers' will contribute interests in Sweetwater to New URC, a newly incorporated Delaware company ("New URC"). Under the Arrangement, among other things, URC shareholders will exchange their URC shares for New URC Shares on the basis of 1 New URC Share for each URC common share held by them at the effective time of the Arrangement. The effect of the Arrangement will be that the Sellers' ownership interests in Sweetwater will have been exchanged for total cash consideration of US$330 million and US$813 million in New URC Shares, issued at a share price of US$3.64, subject to adjustment under the Arrangement Agreement as set out under "Transaction Funding" below. On completion of the Transaction, New URC will be the publicly traded parent company of the combined group. It is expected that existing URC shareholders, Orion and Ontario Teachers' will hold approximately 41%, 43% and 16% of the outstanding New URC Shares, respectively, on completion of the Arrangement and prior to the effects of Subsequent Financing (as defined below).
The Transaction is subject to, among other things, approval by URC shareholders (66 2/3%), requisite court approval, applicable stock exchange and regulatory approvals, and other customary closing conditions. A shareholder meeting is expected to occur on or about July 2026 with closing thereafter subject to regulatory approvals.
Transaction Funding
To finance a portion of the cash consideration under the Transaction, Uranium Energy Corp. ("UEC"), which currently owns approximately 12% of the outstanding URC common shares has agreed to subscribe for subscription receipts of URC at a price of US$3.64 per subscription receipt, for total proceeds of US$40 million (the "UEC Subscription"). Each subscription receipt will automatically convert into one URC Share in the event all escrow release conditions set out in the subscription agreement are satisfied, including satisfaction of the conditions precedent to the Arrangement and receipt of conditional approval of the Arrangement from Toronto Stock Exchange and approval from shareholders at the shareholder meeting. Closing of the UEC Subscription is expected to occur shortly after receipt of conditional approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange, with the subscription funds to be held in escrow pending satisfaction of the escrow release conditions. Following confirmation of the escrow release conditions and delivery of a release notice to the escrow agent, the release of escrowed funds will occur immediately prior to closing of the Arrangement and conversion of the subscription receipts will occur immediately prior to closing of the transactions in the sequence set out in the Plan of Arrangement. In the event that the escrow release conditions are not satisfied prior to the outside date of the Arrangement, or the Arrangement Agreement is terminated, the subscription receipts will expire and UEC will be entitled to receive a refund of the escrowed funds. Based on the currently outstanding shares and the number of New URC Shares to be issued (assuming no additional financing is completed prior to closing), UEC would own approximately 8% of New URC on completion of the Arrangement.
The Company expects to fund the cash portion of the acquisition by means of existing cash on hand, the UEC Subscription, and additional existing liquidity. Prior to closing of the Transaction, New URC intends to pursue external financing sources (the "Subsequent Financing").
Under the Arrangement Agreement, the proportion of cash and New URC Shares to be received by the Sellers will be adjusted in the event that URC completes a financing prior to closing of the Transaction. In such event, the first US$52 million of the net proceeds, and 80% of any excess net proceeds received beyond US$92 million, will be utilized to reduce the New URC Share consideration to the Sellers under the Arrangement.
URC had a cash balance of approximately US$90 million as of January 31, 2026. Since January 31, 2026, URC has also sold approximately US$151 million of uranium inventory to date and has a further approximately US$50 million of uranium inventories based on current market prices.
The UEC Subscription constitutes a related-party transaction under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 – Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The sale of subscription receipts to UEC is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 pursuant to sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 as neither the fair market value of any securities issued to, nor the consideration paid by, UEC exceeded 25.0% of the Company's market capitalization. The Board of Directors of the Company has approved the Offering, the related party transaction with UEC and all ancillary matters.