- Chief Sustainability Officer Erica Ocampo, who brings over a decade of experience in sustainability strategy, engineering and manufacturing processes, will integrate her knowledge of the interconnectivity of key global sustainability challenges into DeepGreen’s sustainability strategy
- Chief Accounting Officer Arthur Chen brings nearly 20 years of experience in leading the global accounting and controllership functions with publicly-traded resource companies, spanning development stage to multi-asset metal producing entities
- The key hires bring more than 30 years of collective experience to DeepGreen’s executive team in advance of the company’s merger with the Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: SOAC) and expected listing on NASDAQ under the ticker ‘TMC’.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — August 5, 2021 – DeepGreen Metals Inc., which is expected to merge with Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: SOAC) and be renamed ‘The Metals Company’, today announced that Erica Ocampo and Arthur Chen have joined the leadership team as Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) and Chief Accounting Officer (CAO), respectively. Since the merger announcement in March, the company has been building the leadership team with key appointments for CFO and CTO, and strengthening governance with a bench of new board nominees. The new additions to the company’s leadership team bolster the company’s continued focus on generating and reporting on robust ESG and financial data as it pursues its ambition to become the world’s largest developer and producer of critical battery metals with lower ESG impact and at a low production cost.
Chief Sustainability Officer brings extensive experience in ESG reporting and compliance
Ms. Ocampo comes to The Metals Company from global metals and electronics recovery company, Sims Limited, where she led the development of a company-wide sustainability strategy— including materiality assessments, goals and KPIs development, reporting and development and implementation of data collection systems. Prior to her role at Sims, Ocampo spearheaded sustainability projects across various business units at Dow, including as Global Sustainability Strategy Manager for its Consumer Solutions business. As CSO, Ms. Ocampo will be responsible for ensuring that company strategy is grounded in sustainability principles, both in its macro approach—across the value chain and customer base—and in its micro approach of addressing ESG impacts in offshore and onshore operations. She will also develop partnerships with customers, sponsoring states and other key regional and global stakeholders to advance the company’s sustainability goals.
Chief Accounting Officer strengthens financial reporting bench ahead of public listing
Mr. Chen brings nearly 20 years of experience in leading the global accounting and controllership function at multiple publicly-traded resource companies, including Canadian and US dual-listed entities. He began his career at Ernst & Young and has deep expertise in IFRS and US GAAP reporting and experience managing Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. As The Metals Company’s Chief Accounting Officer, Mr. Chen will be responsible for oversight of internal and external reporting and compliance and will oversee all financial matters and internal controls for the company.
“Erica and Arthur bring deep sustainability and financial reporting capabilities to the leadership team as we pursue our ambition to supply the clean energy transition with battery metals at a lower production cost and smaller ESG footprint,” said Gerard Barron, Chairman and CEO of The Metals Company. “I am proud of the team we are building. This team has what it takes to disrupt how primary metal extraction is done today while paving the way for transitioning out of primary metal extraction altogether.”
About The Metals Company
In March, DeepGreen Metals Inc. announced that it had entered into a business combination agreement with Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corporation (SOAC) to accelerate project development, and is expected to list on NASDAQ as The Metals Company under the ticker ‘TMC’. The Metals Company is a Canadian explorer of lower-impact battery metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules on a mission to build a carefully managed metal commons that will be used, recovered and reused—for generations to come. The company’s subsidiaries hold exploration rights to three polymetallic nodule contract areas in the Clarion Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean regulated by the International Seabed Authority and sponsored by the Republic of Nauru, the Republic of Kiribati and the Kingdom of Tonga. For more information, visit https://metals.co/.
About Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corporation
Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: SOAC) is a special purpose acquisition company with a dedicated ESG focus and deep operational and capital market capabilities in the energy and resource sectors. While investing in ESG covers a broad range of themes, the Company focused on evaluating suitable targets with existing environmental sustainability practices or that could benefit, both operationally and economically, from the founders’ and management team’s commitment and expertise in executing such practices. In March, SOAC announced that it would merge with DeepGreen Metals Inc. to form TMC the metals company Inc. For more information, visit greenspac.com.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements made herein are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “future,” “outlook” and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, SOAC and DeepGreen’s expectations with respect to future performance, development of its estimated resources of battery metals, the appointment of certain officers and directors to the Board of Directors, potential regulatory approvals, and anticipated financial impacts and other effects of the proposed Business Combination, the satisfaction of the closing conditions to the proposed Business Combination, the timing of the completion of the proposed Business Combination, and the size and potential growth of current or future markets for the combined company’s supply of battery metals. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Most of these factors are outside SOAC’s and DeepGreen’s control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the Business Combination Agreement; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against SOAC and DeepGreen following the announcement of the Business Combination Agreement and the transactions contemplated therein; the inability to complete the proposed Business Combination, including due to failure to obtain approval of the shareholders of SOAC or DeepGreen respectively, certain regulatory approvals, or satisfy other conditions to closing in the Business Combination Agreement; the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the Business Combination Agreement or could otherwise cause the transaction to fail to close; the impact of COVID-19 on DeepGreen’s business and/or the ability of the parties to complete the proposed Business Combination; the inability to obtain or maintain the listing of the combined company’s shares Nasdaq following the proposed Business Combination; the risk that the proposed Business Combination disrupts current plans and operations as a result of the announcement and consummation of the proposed Business Combination; the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the proposed Business Combination, which may be affected by, among other things, the commercial and technical feasibility of seafloor polymetallic nodule mining and processing; the supply and demand for battery metals; the future prices of battery metals; the timing and content of ISA’s exploitation regulations that will create the legal and technical framework for exploitation of polymetallic nodules in the Clarion Clipperton Zone; government regulation of deep seabed mining operations and changes in mining laws and regulations; environmental risks; the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures and requirements for additional capital; cash flow provided by operating activities; unanticipated reclamation expenses; claims and limitations on insurance coverage; the uncertainty in mineral resource estimates; the uncertainty in geological, hydrological, metallurgical and geotechnical studies and opinions; infrastructure risks; and dependence on key management personnel and executive officers; and other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in the final prospectus of SOAC for its initial public offering and the proxy statement/prospectus relating to the proposed Business Combination, including those under “Risk Factors” therein, and in SOAC’s other filings with the SEC. SOAC and DeepGreen caution that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. SOAC and DeepGreen caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. SOAC and DeepGreen do not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based.
Contacts
Media
Rory Usher | TMC the metals company Inc.| rory@metals.co
Chelsea Lauber | Antenna Group | tmc@antennagroup.com
Investors
investors@metals.co