Ashurst advises Champion Iron Ltd on the A$235m acquisition of Quebec Iron Ore Inc. and A$500m refinancing

QIO is the owner and operator of the Bloom Lake Mine in the Labrador Trough in Québec, Canada and this acquisition takes Champion's ownership of QIO to 100 per cent.

In conjunction with Champion acquiring the remaining shares in QIO, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec provided C$185 million (A$205 million) in funding to QIO via a preferred stock offering and the Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) and Société Générale provided a fully underwritten US$200 million (A$295 million) debt package to QIO.

Ashurst also acted as Australian legal adviser to Champion on its initial acquisition of QIO and the Bloom Lake Mine in 2016, on the bridge financing to re-start the Bloom Lake Mine and on the subsequent C$300 million master financing to fund commencement of works at the Bloom Lake Mine. 

Ashurst corporate partner Stuart Dullard commented:

"We congratulate Champion on completing this acquisition and taking full control of QIO and the Bloom Lake Mine. We are delighted to have advised them for a number of years as we worked through this process and look forward to continuing to work with them on their strategic expansion."

The Ashurst team was led by Stuart Dullard, with support from senior associate Jason Maletic. Global loans partner Brenton Key and senior associate Elly Ko provided advice on the refinancing.