Integrated primary vanadium producer and energy storage solutions provider Bushveld Minerals has announced that VRFB Holdings (VRFB-H) has entered into a conditional agreement with Garnet Commerce and Mustang Energy, pursuant to which VRFB-H has agreed to acquire Garnet's 50% interest in Enerox Holdings Limited, which wholly owns Enerox, for $33.17-million in cash and shares.

This is the latest in a series of transactions aimed at providing Enerox and its CellCube brand access to the capital markets, and the ability to achieve a transparent market value and attract energy-focused investors, Bushveld CEO Fortune Mojapelo said on April 12.

Bushveld’s 84%-owned subsidiary Bushveld Energy in November last year agreed to sell its entire 50.5% interest in VRFB-H to Mustang – a special purpose vehicle that will hold 100% of VRFB-H once the Garnet transaction is finalised and Mustang is readmitted to trading on the LSE.

Assuming that all stages of the proposed acquisition are completed and the readmission of Mustang takes place, Bushveld will hold between 21% and 23% of Mustang, with final shareholding interest dependent on the final amount raised by Mustang.

The resulting simplified ownership structure will allow investors greater transparency of value for the underlying energy storage assets, Bushveld said.

The standalone energy storage-focused company will be better positioned to attract the appropriate energy storage-focused investors and achieve a market valuation that is more reflective of underlying value, the company added.

Mustang will have a dedicated board and management team focused on implementing its strategy of a scalable energy storage platform that is fully integrated across the vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) value chain.

Mojapelo explained that the sale of Bushveld’s interest in VRFB-H to Mustang was an important part of the company’s previously announced process to carve out Bushveld Energy into an independent entity focussed on the VRFB value chain.

This process is expected to be completed during the second half of the year.

“We feel this is the right time for this emerging energy storage story to take on a life of its own, while still keeping an interest in the business and, most importantly, maintaining our vertically integrated business model,” Mojapelo said.