Orion Resource Partners, a global investment firm specialising in metals and materials, has sold an 8% minority interest in Sweetwater Royalties, a private industrial minerals royalty company, to a Canadian pension fund for $100m.
The transaction implies an approximately $1.9bn enterprise value for 100% of Sweetwater Royalties, with Orion retaining a 67% majority ownership share in the asset, having sold a 25% stake to Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in March 2023 for approximately $220m.
Sweetwater was established by funds managed by Orion (Orion Mine Finance) in 2020 to manage the long-term, stable cashflow generated from its mineral estate in Wyoming containing 10.5bn tons of trona resources, the world’s largest trona deposit. Trona is a mineral that is processed into soda ash, an ingredient with an extensive and critical set of uses.
The company’s land grant extends to over 4.5m mineral acres of surface and mineral estate holdings in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Michigan, providing a royalty platform across industrial minerals, base metals and renewables. Sweetwater has received over $280m in royalty payments since establishment, with potential for further growth given the new mines under development by WE Soda and Sisecam Chemicals, according to a press release.
Under Orion’s ownership, the management team at Sweetwater has implemented several value creation initiatives, including setting up joint ventures with companies to pursue renewable energy initiatives such as large-scale wind and solar projects and identifying two new soda ash projects.
