UK court approves Dundee’s $1.25B acquisition of Adriatic
Vares project. (Image courtesy of Adriatic Metals.)
Dundee Precious Metals (TSX: DPM) has secured UK court approval for its acquisition of London-based silver-zinc miner Adriatic Metals (LON: ADT1), a deal that it now expects to close this week.
On Friday, the Toronto-based company said the High Court of Justice in England and Wales has sanctioned the $1.25 billion cash-and-stock deal that was announced in mid-June. With this approval, the deal is expected to go ahead and be completed on Wednesday, it said.
Post merger, Dundee and Adriatic shareholders will respectively hold 75.3% and 24.7% of the combined company. Its global headquarters will be kept in Toronto, while Adriatic’s UK office will shut down.
Separately, Dundee has also been granted approval for listing on the Australian exchange, with official quotation to be announced at a later date.
Expanded Balkan presence
The transaction would give Dundee control of Adriatic’s flagship Vareš mine in central Bosnia, along with the Raška project in Serbia. Already active in the Balkans, Dundee saw the new assets as a strategic fit that will expand its production pipeline and diversify its cash flow.
Vareš, as the centrepiece of the acquisition, is set up to become a low-cost producer of silver and zinc, supported by a high-grade deposit, long mine life and strong exploration upside.
“The Vareš is a logical fit with our portfolio, and adds near-term production growth and mine life, a highly prospective land package, and cash flow diversification,” Dundee’s CEO David Rae said at the time of the acquisition.
Adriatic initially acquired the project in 2017 with a view of reviving a historic silver mine that was abandoned amid civil unrest in the early 1990s. In early 2024, the London-based company successfully produced the first concentrate at Vareš, making it Europe’s first new mine in over a decade.
The operation, with a projected 15-year life, has a nameplate production capacity of 90,000 tonnes in zinc concentrates and 65,000 tonnes in silver-lead concentrates per annum. Mining is expected to occur from an ore reserve base of 12.3 million tonnes grading 192 grams per tonne silver and 5.7% zinc.
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