Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Bloomberg it will take a 5% stake in Lithium Americas, with an additional 5% in a lithium mine.

Washington

The United States government has announced it will take a 5% equity stake in Lithium Americas, as well as a 5% stake in the company's lithium mine, which is a joint venture with General Motors. This decision was confirmed by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, following earlier reports of negotiations for a larger stake. The equity acquisition is being made in exchange for government loans, reflecting a growing trend of the U.S. government securing stakes in companies that supply critical minerals.

Officials indicated that more deals of this nature may be forthcoming, as the government seeks to ensure access to strategic resources. The policy requires companies seeking government support, such as loan guarantees or regulatory approvals, to offer equity or revenue streams in return. The move is seen as part of a broader effort to strengthen domestic supply chains for essential materials.

U.S. to take an equity stake in Lithium Americas

We've got breaking news on the U.S. taking a stake in another company. Eamon Javers has got the details. Eamon. Melissa, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright was on Bloomberg News just a short time ago, and he said that the United States is going to take a 5 percent stake in Lithium Americas. Now, remember, there was reporting last week that the company was in negotiations to give up a 10 percent stake. And what Wright said today is that actually it's going to be that 5 percent stake in the company itself, and then a 5 percent stake in this underlying lithium mine that the company is renegotiating its loans over. Now, that mine is a joint venture with General Motors and Lithium Americas, so they will be shouldering the burden of that equity in the mine itself. So this is another deal where the U.S. government is going to, in exchange for, in this case, government loans, is going to take an equity stake in an American company. And, Melissa, the word I get around here in talking to folks is we should be expecting more of these deals are in the works. Not clear which companies in particular might be at the negotiating table for this kind of a deal, but what the president has been asserting here is that if companies need loan guarantees, if they need regulatory approvals or other U.S. government action, they should be prepared to give up a revenue stream or give up an equity stake in order to make those deals happen. Melissa, back over to you. Eamon, this is really a confirmation of a report that we got last week, correct? That's right. Yeah. And what they said last week was that they were in negotiations for a 10 percent stake. This is a 5 percent stake in the company and then also a 5 percent stake in the mine, according to the energy secretary on Bloomberg a short time ago. We'll reach out to Lithium Americas and see what they have to say about it as well. All right. Keep us posted. Eamon Javers in Washington. Thank you. We were talking about this, how the Department of Energy could take stakes in various companies, make loans to various companies that supply critical minerals. And if you invest along with the government, that's been a winning trade, effectively. You know, I'm not getting on Cowan because this is a hard game, but Cowan downgraded the stock, I think, five or so days ago. And then you have this. I don't know. The stock's probably trading north of seven bucks now, probably close five and a half or so. And you're going to start to build on this without question. People will start to chase on the back of this. Doesn't make, you know, I'm not saying it's right, wrong and different, but through the lens of how you trade these things, you know, you want to maybe pile in on the back of this because that's been the way to do things over the last month or so. Well, now we're seeing, what, three of these in the last few months or something like that. And I guess the question you have to ask yourself is like, is this good for capitalism? Is it good for fair markets to have this sort of activity? And we see it around the globe in places that are not liberal democratic sort of society. Can I push back on one thing, though? These are seen as strategic assets for the United States. Right. And so is every SOE in China. You know, I mean, they have their hands in almost every industry. So in the banks, too. I mean, listen, where's it going to stop, I guess. And so, you know, I mean, I just that's not a political statement. That's just it's an economic statement. You guys all did econ and finance and all that stuff. Right. I did. I mean, I'm sort of surprised the 5% is a 65 million dollar investment. And it's worth how much in market? Well, right. I mean, that's that seems small. But I would I would push back on Dan also, just for the sake of why not push back on Dan, which is I do very much agree with this kind of investment and ownership rather than just giving a giving money away. Yeah. Where. Yeah. That's a good term. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

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