USA Rare Earth buys Brazil’s Serra Verde for $2.8 billion

BusinessInternationalUSA Rare Earth buys Brazil's Serra Verde for $2.8 billionBy Reuters -Apr 21, 2026USA Rare Earth said on Monday it will buy Brazilian rare earths miner Serra Verde in a ‌cash-and-stock deal worth $2.8 billion, the latest in a string of acquisitions boosting the company’s mining, processing and magnet-making portfolio. In less than a year, USA Rare Earth’s international acquisition spree has seen it add British rare earths metals and alloy producer Less Common Metals and a stake in French processing firm Carester ​to its magnet manufacturing plant in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and its Round Top Texas mine. The latest buyout, which comes after the ​U.S. Commerce Department took a stake in USA Rare Earth in January, will give the company ⁠control of Serra Verde’s Pela Ema mine, which is rich in heavy rare earths, unlike many other Western deposits, making it particularly ​attractive. The deal “represents a transformational step in delivering on our ambition to build a global champion and the partner of choice in ​rare earth elements, oxides, metals and magnets,” USA Rare Earth CEO Barbara Humpton said. Forecast shortages of heavy rare earths dysprosium and terbium could be a stumbling block in the West’s scramble to create domestic supply chains of rare earths and permanent magnets vital for the energy transition, electronics and ​defence applications. China currently accounts for about 90% of global processed rare earth output, allowing it to largely control prices. USA Rare ​Earth will pay $300 million in cash and 126.9 million in its own newly issued shares for Serra Verde, with the deal expected to close ‌in ⁠the third quarter of 2026, a statement said. The company agreed to a $1.6 billion debt-and-equity funding package with the U.S. government in January, while privately held Serra Verde agreed a financing deal worth $565 million with Washington in February. The U.S. group’s Oklahoma magnet plant is expected to launch later this year. Shares o...