Vision Blue Resources, a battery metals investment firm founded by ex-Xstrata boss Mick Davis, said on March 15 it had launched a $300 million blank check company in New York with Energy & Minerals Group to hunt for firms geared towards a lower carbon economy.

The special purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC), ESM Acquisition Corp., will select businesses that focus on a shift away from fossil fuels, the light-weighting and electrification of vehicles, and the reduction of carbon emissions.

SPACs are shell companies that use the proceeds from going public to buy another company, not yet identified at time of listing. There have been 100-plus of these listings over the past year.

“ESM intends to focus on a target business that is positioned to benefit from the global transition towards a low carbon economy,” Vision Blue said in a statement.

Vision Blue is betting that years of low investment in key raw materials needed for decarbonization will create supply deficits and attractive economic opportunities.

The transaction size could rise to $345 million if the underwriter exercises a 45-day overallotment option granted by ESM.

In separate statement, Vision Blue said it will invest $12.6 million into Ferro-Alloy Resources Group to expand a vanadium project and fund a new study.

Ferro-Alloy, which listed in London in 2019, owns the Balasausqandiq vanadium deposit in southern Kazakhstan where it mines and processes the metal, which is used to strengthen steel and is a key ingredient in large-scale power storage.

Vision Blue will have the right to inject a further $30 million into the firm and has an offtake agreement to purchase up to 25% of its vanadium production, the statement said.

Davis, who headed mining company Xstrata before its merger with Glencore, will also appointed chairman of Ferro-Alloy.

Davis shut his $6 billion private investment fund X2 Resources in 2016 after it failed to make any deals.