Aqua Metals, Inc. Reaches Agreement with Sustainable Lithium-Ion Battery Recycler to Lease-To-Buy the Mccarran, Nevada Aquarefinery
February 16, 2021 at 08:00 am EST
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Aqua Metals, Inc. announced it has reached an agreement to lease, with additional purchase deposits to buy, its McCarran, Nevada plant, a 136,000 square foot facility located on 11.5 acres. This non-core asset disposition was driven by the Company’s accelerated focus on its capital-light equipment supply and licensing strategy. The agreement was reached with an entity focused on sustainable lithium-ion battery recycling methodologies. In addition to financial and operational benefits, this new relationship provides potential strategic opportunities for Aqua Metals going forward. The agreement is structured to allow Aqua Metals to retain use of a portion of the building while also receiving lease revenues commencing on April 1, 2021. Lease payments total up to $1.9 million during the contract term. The agreement is structured as up to a two-year triple-net lease with an option to purchase the land and plant at any time. As part of the transaction, the lessee is required to pay Aqua Metals two non-refundable cash deposits totaling $3.25 million. These non-refundable deposits indicate the lessee’s intention to complete the purchase. The facility's purchase price is $14.25 million if the option is exercised and the sale is completed by October 1, 2022, and increases to $15.25 million if the option is exercised and the sale is completed by March 31, 2023. The structure of the agreement will significantly reduce Aqua Metals' cash outflow related to the plant. During the term of the agreement, the recycler will be responsible for fixed costs, including maintenance, utilities, insurance, and property taxes. The lease-to-buy structure is beneficial to Aqua Metals from both a financial and operational perspective. The terms of the agreement allow the Company to continue utilizing the facility, at no cost to Aqua Metals, for its research and product development activities, including operation of the lab and use of office space.
Aqua Metals, Inc. is engaged in the business of recycling metals. The Company is reinventing metals recycling with its patented AquaRefining technology. It provides sustainable recycling solution for materials strategic to energy storage and electric vehicle manufacturing supply chains. The Companyâs AquaRefining technology is a low-emissions, closed-loop recycling technology that replaces polluting furnaces and hazardous chemicals with electricity-powered electroplating to recover valuable metals and materials from spent batteries with higher purity, lower emissions, and minimal waste. AquaRefining is designed to deliver raw materials back into the manufacturing supply chain and replaces the need for polluting furnaces and hazardous chemicals with electricity-powered electroplating to recover valuable metals and materials from spent batteries with higher purity, lower emissions, and minimal waste. AquaRefining process produces purity metals and alloys.