Northern Graphite Corporation (the "Company" or "Northern") announces today that it will not exercise or extend its agreement with Edgewater Capital Partners ("Edgewater") providing it with an option to acquire a stake in NeoGraf Solutions, LLC ("NeoGraf"), and accordingly the option has expired.
"Given current market conditions, and in consultation with NeoGraf, we have decided it is not in the best interests of shareholders or the Company to exercise or extend the option at this time," said Northern Chief Executive Officer Hugues Jacquemin.
"Our mine-to-market strategy has not changed, and together with our new Battery Materials Group, we are going to continue to work closely with NeoGraf to explore ways to work together in this very important partnership to develop cutting edge graphite applications, inside and outside of the battery industry," he added.
NeoGraf is one of Northern's largest customers and is a leading provider of specialty, value-added industrial products manufactured from natural graphite and has a strong intellectual property portfolio and a blue-chip customer base.
"We will continue to explore different ways to enhance the partnership between NeoGraf and Northern as both companies work to address evolving supply needs in the downstream market for graphite products," said Edgewater Capital Partner and Chairman of the Board, Robert Girton.
"We continue to value our relationship with Northern Graphite, which is a win-win for our companies and for our customers," said NeoGraf Chief Executive Officer Natesh Krishnan.
