Canada clears Paladin's $789 million Fission Uranium takeover
Paladin gets clearance from Investment Canada
Canada conditions include no China funding
Buyout opens way to North American markets
Adds bullets, share price move in paragraph 3, details around Canada's conditions in paragraph 5
MELBOURNE, Dec 19 (Reuters) -Australia's Paladin Energy PDN.AX has received the final green light it needed from Canadian authorities tobuy Fission Uranium FCU.TO in a C$1.14 billion ($789.1 million) dealthat cements is position as a major global producer, it said on Thursday.
Paladin got the clearance under the Investment Canada Act on Wednesday and said the deal under which it would acquire Fission's advanced PLS project in Saskatchewan was expected to be completed by early January 2025.
The clearance comes as prices for the nuclear fuel surge on expectations of a demand spike as the energy transition unfolds. Shares fell 1.8% amid weakness in the mining sector.
The Canadian government in October stepped in to review the proposed tieup on national security grounds, raising concerns it may be derailed by the county that has become increasingly sensitive towards strategic resource firms being taken over by overseas buyers.
Paladin has agreed to several conditions Canadahas attachedto the merger including not to use any China-sourced financefor funding PLS, or to sell PLS's uranium directly or indirectly to anyChina customers beyond China General Nuclear Power Group, which has an existing offtake agreement, it said.
Canada in July cracked down on big mining takeovers, saying it would only approve foreign buyouts of large Canadian firms involved in critical minerals production "in the most exceptional of circumstances."
($1 = 1.4447 Canadian dollars)
Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru. Additional reporting by Divya Rajagopal in Toronto and Melanie Burton in Melbourne; Editing by Alan Barona and Stephen Coates
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