Thiel-backed lithium miner is said to prepare Nasdaq listing
Rock Tech Lithium is preparing a Nasdaq listing to broaden its investor base and help finance a $545-million battery-metals smelter in Germany near sites of key suppliers and customers including Tesla and BASF, according to people familiar with the matter.
The US stock market presence would complement Rock Tech’s listings on the Toronto and Frankfurt exchanges and is linked to a planned equity raise next year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.
A spokesman representing Vancouver-based Rock Tech declined to comment.
The company, backed by venture capitalist Peter Thiel, is betting on Germany playing a leading role for Europe’s electric-vehicle transition. Rock Tech announced a week ago that the smelter would be built in Brandenburg, the German state outside Berlin where Tesla is completing its first vehicle factory in Europe.
Tesla’s plant in Gruenheide is slated to start producing vehicles this year even as it awaits final approval for the project, which has been delayed by legal challenges.
Rock Tech plans to start output at the smelter as early as 2024. Europe’s first lithium converter will have a production capacity of 24 000 t/y, which is equivalent to the volume needed to make lithium-ion batteries for about 500 000 electric cars, the company said last week.
Lithium has more than doubled in price from a year ago as automakers accelerate a push for electric vehicles. Global consumption of the key battery metal is projected to grow fivefold by 2030, according to BloombergNEF.
Rock Tech, whose investors include Christian Angermayer and hedge fund billionaire Alan Howard, recently hired former BMW and Deutsche Bank finance boss Stefan Krause as chief financial officer.
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