Freshfields’ multi-jurisdictional and multi-disciplinary team on the Terrafame transaction was led by partners Dougall Molson, Gabriel Mpubani and Richard Tett.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (‘Freshfields’) has advised the Finnish mining companies, Terrafame Group Ltd. and Terrafame Ltd. in a successful private capital raising from Trafigura Group (‘Trafigura’) and its investment arm, Galena Private Equity Resources Fund (‘Galena’), along with co-investment from Sampo Plc (‘Sampo’). The transaction provides Terrafame Ltd. with working capital to ramp up its mining operations in Sotkamo, in the north of the country.
As part of the transaction, Galena made a €75m equity investment in Terrafame Ltd. in return for a 15.5 per cent stake in Terrafame Ltd. and Trafigura provided a €75m loan facility. Sampo provided a €25m loan facility on the same terms as Trafigura, and Terrafame Group Ltd. made a further €25m equity investment in Terrafame Ltd. on the same terms as Galena. Terrafame Group Ltd.’s equity stake in Terrafame Ltd. is 84.2 per cent at closing. Terrafame Group Ltd. has also committed a €50m stand-by facility which can be drawn as equity if required. As part of the transaction, Trafigura will buy 100 per cent of the nickel-cobalt sulphide precipitates and 80 per cent of the zinc sulphide precipitates produced by Terrafame Ltd. over the next seven years as well.
This highly visible deal, which closes at a time of recovery in the mining cycle, reaffirms Freshfields’ position as a leading adviser on complex and strategic transactions in the mining sector. In recent years, Freshfields has advised on many stand-out mining matters across the corporate, finance and disputes spectrum, including advising Xstrata on its merger with Glencore in what remains the largest mining M&A deal, and last year, securing one of the largest-ever ICSID arbitration awards for Crystallex International Corporation for the expropriation of its Las Cristinas gold mine in Venezuela.
Freshfields’ multi-jurisdictional and multi-disciplinary team on the Terrafame transaction was led by partners Dougall Molson, Gabriel Mpubani and Richard Tett.
