Bushveld Minerals Limited (LON:BMN) has made a second investment through its newly established vanadium battery OEM platform.
Subsidiary Bushveld Energy is leading a consortium to acquire Austrian group Enerox from CellCube Energy Storage for €11mln.
Based in Wiener Neudorf, Austria, Enerox is one of the world's foremost makers of vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB).
Enerox pioneered the first containerised energy storage solutions and now has a global customer base with over 130 field installations.
A separate agreement also gives Bushveld a right of first refusal to supply vanadium products to Enerox on the same terms as any other supplier.
Bushveld is using its platform to establish a vertical structure in vanadium from mining the ore, processing and production of the electrolyte through to battery manufacture.
As part of the deal, Bushveld will also provide Enerox with €1.5mln in working capital and says it wants to put in no more than 50% of the transaction costs.
Fortune Mojapelo, Bushveld’s chief executive, said: “The potential acquisition of Enerox is in line with Bushveld's previously announced strategy of establishing a VRFB Investment Platform through which the company will mobilise additional capital from third-party funders to help credible VRFB OEMs build scale to respond to a growing stationary energy storage market opportunity.
“The advantages this strategy brings are clearly illustrated by the right of first refusal agreement, also concluded with Enerox, whereby Bushveld will have the right to match commercial terms for the provision of vanadium products.”