American lithium refinery Stardust Power is slated for its initial public offering (IPO) which it will do via a $490 million merger with Global Partner Acquisition Corp II (GPAC,) a blank-check company.
Both parties hope to close this special purpose acquisition (SPAC) within the first six months of 2024. Once the deal is on, Stardust will be trading on the Nasdaq with the symbol SDST.
Companies publicly listed as SPACs are formed with mergers with other private enterprises in mind. Up until recently, these were considered hot-ticket items on Wall Street, but demand and interest in SPACs went down due to higher interest rates, overall market volatility, and the scrutiny of government regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC.)
What Happens Next?
According to company executives, Stardust Power is set to build a lithium refinery in Greater Tulsa Oklahoma. This refinery is expected to have a production capacity of 50,000 metric tons of purely domestic battery-grade lithium per year.
This deal marks yet another milestone for a metal that used to be a specialty item used only in the fields of industrial ceramics and pharmaceutical products for mental health. Today, with major automotive players like Ford and Stellantis hopping onto the EV bandwagon, lithium is now one of the world’s hottest commodities.
Indeed, despite a recent drop in lithium prices driven by a perceived slowdown in global EV adoption, the biggest players in the industry are optimistic that long-term demand for the metal will remain strong in the foreseeable future.
