VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Uranium One has acquired shares in rival Paladin Energy “as an investment”, was all CEO Jean Nortier would say on Monday.

Uranium One said late last month that it had bought a stake in Paladin, which operates uranium mines in Malawi and Namibia, and confirmed on Monday that it has since increased its holding to around 3%.

“There's not much to say, other than that we like uranium assets, we've been open about the fact that we like assets in Africa and that we'd be looking towards the African environment,” Nortier said in an interview.

“For now, the investment in Paladin is simply an investment. A small investment for investment purposes.”

The company reserves the right to buy more shares, or to sell its shares in Paladin, Nortier said.

As far as merger and acquisition activity (M&A) in general is concerned, Uranium One is looking at a number of other areas in Africa, as well as “one or two” opportunities in Europe.

The main problem is that most of the attractive opportunities are very expensive, he commented.

“So, it's not that easy to find good value-creating opportunities.”

The company is happy with the deals it has made so far, and continues to see M&A as a priority, Nortier said.

“[But] we are competing with some very strong opposition in the market,” he added.

There are a number of governments out looking for uranium assets, and some of Uranium One's rivals are also scanning for targets.

“So, we are all looking at a small number of assets,” he said.

“So far, we have had one or two smart things that we could do. And we hope we will find more opportunities as we go forward.”

Uranium One announced two acquisitions last year – it bought a 50% joint-venture interest in the Karatau uranium mine, from Russia's Atomredmetzoloto, and agreed to acquire two ISR processing facilities and associated uranium resources in Wyoming.

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