The company plans to raise around $230 million in the IPO. Glencore and Anchorage Capital, an investment fund, will together hold 20.5% of the capital. The parties involved are therefore betting on the energy transition, which should support demand for cobalt, used in electric vehicle batteries in particular. But for now, the market remains under pressure: prices have fallen from nearly $40 per pound in 2022 to around $11 today due to oversupply. The company says this drop represents a buying opportunity for investors.

Buying opportunity

According to Cobalt Holdings, this depressed environment represents a buying opportunity. The timing of the IPO is not insignificant: in February, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which supplies nearly 75% of the world's cobalt, suspended exports for four months.

To secure its supplies, Cobalt Holdings has signed a six-year contract with Glencore for an initial volume of 6,000 tons at below market price. The agreement, which could be worth up to $1 billion, would alone cover a third of the estimated cobalt surplus for 2025. Another contract links the company to Anchorage for the purchase of an additional 1,500 tons by 2031.

A "pure" investment model with no industrial risks

Jake Greenberg, well known in the markets for co-founding Yellow Cake, the first company to offer direct exposure to uranium when it went public in 2018, is leading this new initiative. Cobalt Holdings' strategy is modeled on this precedent: offering direct exposure to the metal without the risks associated with mining or refining.

"We offer a low-cost, low-risk model for buying and holding physical cobalt over the long term," Greenberg summarizes. The idea is to capitalize on future price increases without getting involved in mining operations.

An IPO awaited on a London market in search of renewal

Cobalt Holdings' IPO comes at a difficult time for the London market. If successful, it will be the largest IPO since Ithaca Energy's $300 million offering in 2022. In 2024, fundraising did not exceed $1 billion, only the second time since the 2008 stock market crash.

London is also suffering from a wave of disaffection: 88 companies left the coast in 2024, replaced by only 18 new ones. Many European companies now prefer New York, attracted by higher valuations, including outside the tech sector. Recent examples of ARM and Birkenstock illustrate this trend.

The potential arrival of the giant Shein in London had raised hopes, but the deal remains on hold pending approval from the Chinese authorities.