Uranium Royalty to buy Sweetwater in $1.1B deal

Canada’s Uranium Royalty (TSX: URC; Nasdaq: UROY) agreed to buy privately held Sweetwater Royalties for about $1.1 billion to diversify and capitalize on rising demand for nuclear fuel.

The deal will see Sweetwater and Uranium Royalty combine under a new US-based parent company that will apply to have its common shares listed on Nasdaq, according to a statement Thursday. Sweetwater’s majority shareholders, Orion Resource Partners and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, will receive $330 million in cash and $813 million in stock of the new company – also named Uranium Royalty – at a deemed value of $3.64 per share.

The transaction values Sweetwater at about $1.9 billion, including outstanding debt. It’s scheduled to close early in the third quarter, Vancouver-based Uranium Royalty said.

Six-year-old Sweetwater controls a vast mineral estate across Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Michigan, anchored by trona deposits used to produce soda ash. The business has generated steady cash flow, distributing $80 million to shareholders over the past two years. Its large-scale asset base will allow Uranium Royalty to diversify beyond uranium while preserving the company’s exposure to the energy transition.

Adding Sweetwater “will accelerate near term cash flows from competitive and reliable, long-life assets located in a top-tier jurisdiction, Wyoming, in which we have a great deal of affinity and familiarity,” Uranium Royalty CEO Scott Melbye said in a statement.

“More importantly, it provides a strong financial base to allow us to fully realize and expand our uranium focus at a time of historic growth in nuclear energy. The global uranium market is experiencing a meaningful primary supply deficit, expected to drive significant capital investment in the years ahead.”

Pure play

Vancouver-based Uranium Royalty is the only pure-play uranium royalty and streaming company listed on a major exchange. Its business model is to gain exposure to uranium prices through royalties, streams, equity investments and physical uranium holdings, without taking on operating risks. The new company’s balance sheet will support “disciplined, value-accretive” uranium royalty acquisitions, Uranium Royalty said.

It held more than 2.3 million lb. of uranium concentrate as of the end of last year. This compares with about 80 million lb. for the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust, the world’s biggest uranium fund.

Uranium Royalty expects to fund the cash portion of the acquisition with existing cash on hand and additional existing liquidity. It intends to pursue external financing sources before the deal closes.

New York-based Orion, a global investment firm specializing in metals and critical minerals with more than $8 billion under management, has been building Sweetwater as a diversified royalty platform spanning industrial minerals, base metals and renewables since 2020. Sweetwater’s land package in Wyoming includes the world’s largest trona deposit. It holds about 10.5 billion tonnes of trona.

Soda ash, one of the world’s most widely consumed inorganic industrial materials, is a chemical refined from mineral trona. It’s a key input in the manufacture of glass, chemicals and other industrial products – with glass production accounting for about half of demand.

Largest landowner

With a land portfolio that spans about 3,400 sq. km of fee surface rights and more than 18,210 sq. km of mineral rights in fee, Uranium Royalty will become the second largest public company landowner in the United States — excluding real estate investment trusts — and the largest landowner in Wyoming.

News of the transaction comes amid strengthening fundamentals for uranium. Governments in the United States and Europe are seeking secure fuel supplies, while global reactor construction and long-term contracting are driving demand growth. Industry estimates point to significant uncommitted uranium demand through the next decade, underpinning investment interest in the sector.

Ontario Teachers’, one of Canada’s biggest public pension funds, acquired a 25% stake in Sweetwater in 2023 for about $222 million. It managed net assets of C$279.4 billion ($204 billion) as of the end of 2025.

Its involvement underscores growing institutional appetite for mining royalties tied to critical minerals. The pension fund has been expanding its exposure to commodities linked to electrification and energy security, noting recently that demand for such materials is set to rise exponentially.

Ontario Teachers’ is set own about 16% of Uranium Royalty after the deal closes. Orion will control 43%.

Uranium Royalty shares fell 0.4% to C$5.38 Thursday morning in Toronto, giving the company a market value of about C$788 million ($575 million).