Rare earths miner MP Materials to go public in $1.5 billion SPAC deal

By Ernest Scheyder

(Reuters) – U.S. rare earths miner MP Materials said on Wednesday it would go public through a merger with a blank-check company backed by private equity firm Fortress Investment Group in a deal valued at $1.5 billion.

Hedge funds JHL Capital Group and QVT Financial will fold their ownership of MP Materials and its California mine into the special-purpose acquisition company Fortress Value Acquisition Corp . Fortress is controlled by Japan’s Softbank Group .

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder)