US-focused Uranium Energy Corp (UEC) on Monday announced the acquisition of UEX, providing the company entry into two of Canada’s most prospective uranium districts in Saskatchewan and Nunavut.

Under the terms of the agreement, each holder of UEX shares would receive 0.0831 of one UEC share for each UEX share, implying a consideration of about C$0.43 a share and a premium of about 50% based on the closing price of UEX’s shares on the TSX on Friday.

President and CEO Amir Adnani said the transaction had the same characteristics as the December acquisition of Uranium One America (U1A), which at the time marked the biggest merger-and-acquisition (M&A) transaction in about a decade.

As with the U1A acquisition, the purchase price is equal to about 13.7% of the proforma market capitalisation, yet the acquisition was expected to more than double the size of UEC’s attributable measured and indicated uranium resources.

It also marks the biggest North American M&A transaction in the uranium sector following the U1A acquisition.

“This transaction underscores UEC's sector-leading strategy as the fastest-growing, pure play, 100% un-hedged uranium company with assets only in the western hemisphere,” said Adnani.

UEX's portfolio is comprised of 29 uranium projects covering key areas of the producing eastern side and development western side of prolific Athabasca basin. Five of the projects are advanced resource stage and already in strong joint-venture partnerships with established uranium miners which allows UEC to remain operationally focused in the US, while benefiting from a new development pipeline with significant exploration potential in Canada.

“The combination of UEC and UEX brings together two very strong and complementary portfolios and, in addition to a significant premium, provides our shareholders with the opportunity to participate in the continued growth of UEC,” said UEX president and CEO Roger Lemaitre.

At closing, existing UEC and UEX shareholders will own about 86.3% and 13.7%, respectively, of UEC based on current outstanding common shares.