03-August-2023: This straw is about Wyloo, a company wholly owned by Tattarang, Andrew and Nicola Forrest's private investment group. The Money of Mine podcast boys have managed to get Wyloo's CEO, Luca Giacovazzi, as well as Wyloo's General Manager of Strategy and Business Development, Joel Turco, to talk to them at length about their takeovers of Mincor and the Canadian-based Noront Resources, as well as Wyloo's deal creativity with Hastings Technology Metals, Western Areas, IGO, Regis Resources, and more.

In fact, the chat was so long they had to split it into two halves - here are links to them - you can click on the image or the link below it (both should work). I'll include their show notes and "Chapter Lists" as well.

The Former Bankers Behind Wyloo's Bold Plans (Part 1) - YouTube

Show notes:

We’re delighted to be able to provide the Money Miners with (as far as we know) the first full-length interview with Wyloo CEO Luca Giacovazzi and GM Strategy & BD Joel Turco.

This is the team behind the creative acquisitions of Noront Resources and Mincor Resources. Their deal creativity has extended to Hastings Technology Metals, Western Areas, Regis, and more.

Now the team is looking to translate their deal innovation into mining innovation as they become an integrated nickel producer with the completion of the acquisition of Mincor.

In this Part 1 we get the genesis behind Wyloo and what they are all about today. We go further into the commodities they’re excited by and the tools and their disposal.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Preview

0:48 Introduction

3:19 Luca Giacovazzi and Joel Turco Introduce themselves

5:51 Wyloo Metals Insight and their Mandate

8:28 Did Wyloo Consider Lithium?

14:40 Wyloo’s perspective on the Nickel Market

31:43 Wyloo’s WA Nickel Sulphide Plans

40:33 Does Downstream in Australia make sense?

51:55 Wyloo’s thoughts on Rare Earths

That was Part One, and Part Two is below:

Behind the Curtain on Wyloo’s Big Deals with Luca Giacovazzi & Joel Turco (Part 2) - YouTube

Show notes:

We’re delighted to be able to provide the Money Miners with (as far as we know) the first full-length interview with Wyloo CEO Luca Giacovazzi and GM Strategy & BD Joel Turco.

Part 2 is all about the deals. We go deep unpacking the dealmaking creativity on Wyloo's very public transactions. Think of the bidding war versus BHP for Noront. Remember the raid on Regis? Recall the exchangeable note with Hastings? Surely the "hostile" takeover of Mincor is fresh in your mind? The brains trust at Wyloo takes us through a thrilling and detailed rundown of how it all played out behind the scenes.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Preview

0:55 Introduction

3:41 Investment in Hastings for Neo

6:28 Battle for Noront vs BHP

19:03 Wyloo's wedge in IGO's takeover of WSA

25:21 Wyloo's acquisition of Mincor - Deal of the Year?

41:51 Too much focus on EVs in the Transition

45:00 Where will we see Wyloo next?

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DISCLAIMER

All Money of Mine episodes are for informational purposes only and may contain forward-looking statements that may not eventuate. The co-hosts are not financial advisers and any views expressed are their opinion only. Please do your own research before making any investment decision or alternatively seek advice from a registered financial professional.

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The story about how Wyloo was formed and why they went so hard into Nickel is very interesting. Andrew Forrest was one of a number of Australian billionaires who had been buying up large farming properties and diversifying into agriculture and food, and they were looking at other megatrends that were also worth pursuing. Decarbonisation was a standout, and that lead them to look at the supply and demand dynamics with a number of materials, and two of the standout opportunities within those were nickel and rare earths. And they explain why.

Another reason why this is so interesting is that when you have Andrew Forrest's money behind you, there are many more options available to you, and you can become very creative in deal structuring. One of the earliest examples is how Wyloo beat the world's largest mining company, BHP, in a bidding war for the Canadian Noront Resources, which has now been renamed Ring of Fire Metals under Wyloo ownership - see here: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/noront-resources-renamed-ring-of-fire-metals-as-activity-recommences-885623544.html

After "scouring the globe", Wyloo believes that the Eagles Nest project in Northern Ontario's Ring of Fire region is one of the two best nickel sulphide projects on earth. The other one is Mincor's Kambalda project. They've now bought both of them.

They wanted to become serious players in the nickel market, however their vision for Wyloo goes beyond nickel. Their comments of lithium are interesting as well. And on Rare Earths. And on being integrated supply chain producers, being able to - in the future - approach large OEMs and say, we have the mine, the mine life, and the production facilities to produce these rare earth magnets for you for the next 10 or 20 years and we can lock in the cost price for you now as well. And you'd be dealing with Australia and an Australian-based company; China would not be involved at all.

My words there by the way, not theirs. I'm paraphrasing a fair bit. But that's the gist of it I reckon.

Wyloo believe that very few companies will be in that sort of negotiating position, so it would be a great position to be in, if they can do it.

There are too many insights in these two podcasts to list here, so I'll just say... if you're interested in battery metals, or how a smart billionaire likes to invest his family's money, or just like the art of the deal, this is worth your time. As Molly used to say, "Do yourself a favour!"

Further Reading:

Andrew Forrest’s Wyloo gains control of ASX-listed nickel miner Mincor Resources (smh.com.au) [5-July-2023]

Andrew Forrest’s ‘whatever it takes’ call on nickel for batteries (afr.com) [5-July-2023]

Australian Billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Wyloo Metals Beats BHP In Bidding War For Canada’s Noront (forbes.com) [19-Oct-2021]

Wyloo Metals

Land secured at Kwinana for Australia’s first proposed integrated battery material facility | Wyloo Metals [14-Apr-2023]

Disclosure: I hold FMG shares. Wyloo is a private company owned by Tattarang, and Tattarang is a private company owned by Andrew ("Twiggy") and Nicola Forrest. Tattarang owns 36.7% of FMG, so around $24.35 billion of FMG (which is currently a $66.35 billion company, and one of the 10 largest companies in Australia). Tattarang own a heap of other stuff as well however, even a small position (15.37%, was 19.9% but they've been diluted by a couple of share placements) in Swoop (SWP.asx), one of my worst performing investments at this point in time. So we can't buy shares in Wyloo, or Tattarang, but we can buy shares in FMG which owns FFI (Fortescue Future Industries), another one of Twiggy's passions. And of course, FMG is the largest position in the Tattarang portfolio of investments. Wyloo is probably the second I would guess.