American Ocean Minerals and Odyssey Marine Exploration in $1BN merger
Written by Marine Log Staff
Polymetallic nodules, such as those shown here, can occur on the ocean floor and are of interest for the critical minerals they contain. [Photo: NOAA]
With ocean critical minerals high on the Trump Administration agenda, American Ocean Minerals Corporation (AOMC) and Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NASDAQ: OMEX) report that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement to combine their businesses and create a leading deep-sea critical minerals research and resource extraction platform.
The deal values the combined company at approximately $1 billion and includes a private placement of over $150 million from prominent institutional and strategic investors, as well as a $75 million pre-public financing completed in February by AOMC.
Following the closing of the transaction the combined company will operate as American Ocean Minerals Corporation and is expected to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol AOMC.
The companies say that the transaction will create a U.S. platform with advanced deep-sea resource and harvesting capabilities, supported by a public company infrastructure.
AOMC has secured exploration rights in one of the most sought-after areas globally and forged key partnerships designed to support an asset-light operational platform, including retrofitted vessels and proven technologies. Odyssey contributes its public platform, unique intellectual properties, diversified portfolio and more than 30 years of offshore operational experience in developing marine mineral assets.
The combined company will be led by a team that includes Chairman Tom Albanese, who formerly served as CEO of Rio Tinto Group, and CEO Mark Justh, who brings decades of experience in capital markets, including former roles at JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. The team will also be supported by AOMC founding investor and special advisor Mike Rowe, the founder and CEO of the mikeroweWORKS foundation. Best known as the creator and host of the Discovery Channel series Dirty Jobs, he has become a prominent advocate for skilled trades and manual labor in the United States.
“This transaction comes at a pivotal inflection point, as regulatory clarity, proven offshore technology, supply chain independence initiatives, improved scientific understanding of environmental impacts and mitigation, and accelerating demand for critical minerals are converging for the first time,” said AOMC CEO Mark Justh. “By combining AOMC’s capital and multi-jurisdiction asset base with Odyssey’s, and with a combined team representing 300 years of deep-sea expertise, we are building a scalable platform to support a more secure and diversified critical minerals supply chain.”
Mark Gordon, CEO of Odyssey, said: “This transaction builds on the foundation Odyssey has established over more than three decades of offshore innovation and operations. Our experience in marine operations, project execution, and working within regulatory frameworks is directly applicable to advancing these assets. By combining Odyssey’s capability with AOMC’s capital and asset base, the combined company is positioned to move forward with a clear, execution-driven approach.”
The combined company expects to make substantial investments over the next decade designed to yield significant returns for its shareholders, the Cook Islands, the U.S. and other important stakeholders. These investments will support completing technical programs and feasibility studies to maximize the economic value of AOMC’s resource endowment and implementing environmentally responsible harvesting technologies, constructing and retrofitting a fleet of harvesting vessels, developing processing operations, and building supporting infrastructure.
