Canadian uranium miner Denison to buy rival Fission Uranium for $382 mn

Canadian uranium miner Denison Mines Corp yesterday struck a deal to buy rival Fission Uranium Corp for around C$483 million ($382 million) in order to create a diversified uranium company.

Under the deal, Fission shareholders will receive 1.26 shares of Denison for each Fission share plus C$0.0001 per share in cash.

The offer implies a price of C$1.25 per Fission share, an 18-per cent premium to the average volume-weighted price of Fission's shares over the past 30 days.

The combined company, to be named Denison Energy Corp, will have a market value of around C$900 million and be equally owned by Denison's and Fission's shareholders, the two companies said in a statement.

British Columbia-based Fission Uranium is a Canadian based resource company specialising in exploration and development of the Patterson Lake South uranium property.

The deal will give consolidate the uranium asset interests in the Athabasca Basin, by Fission's fully-owned PLS Project and Denison's 60-per cent owned Wheeler River Project. It also includes Denison's interests in the Midwest, McClean Lake, Waterbury Lake, Mann Lake, and Wolly projects, as well as Denison's strategic 22.5 per cent stake in the McClean Lake Mill.

"The continued exploration success at our Phoenix deposit and Gryphon discovery, in combination with the discovery and exploration success of the world class Triple R deposit puts the combined company in an incredibly strong strategic position, with the most significant development portfolio in the world," said, Ron Hochstein, executive chairman of Denison.

"This merger will create the uranium industry's leading exploration and development company at a time when the sector is poised for growth. Denison has a strong, diversified portfolio and, with the Triple R deposit, Fission is bringing the Athabasca Basin's largest undeveloped high-grade resource as well as a successful and award-winning technical and management team," said, Dev Randhawa, chairman and CEO of Fission.