News Summary
On December 11, 2025, it was announced that Streamex Corp. (NASDAQ: STEX), a financial technology company, has acquired a 9.9% strategic equity stake in Empress Royalty Corp. Streamex acquired 12,671,297 common shares of Empress from Terra Capital Natural Resources Fund.
The transaction was a share-for-share exchange where Streamex issued 2,443,750 of its own shares at a price of US$5.00 per share. This implies an aggregate value of US$12.22 million, or approximately US$0.964 per Empress Royalty share. This represents a significant premium to Empress’s recent trading price.
Both parties expressed enthusiasm for the transaction. Streamex’s CEO highlighted the acquisition as a milestone in expanding into the commodities space, providing direct exposure to cash-flowing precious-metal assets that complement its strategy of tokenizing real-world assets. Terra Capital’s CEO framed the deal as an alignment with the forward-thinking Streamex team, expressing excitement to be long-term partners.
Material Impact
The news is materially positive, providing a strong vote of confidence in Empress Royalty’s asset portfolio and future, despite the nuance of a founding shareholder’s exit.
– Strategic Validation at a Premium: The acquisition was executed at an implied price of US$0.964 per Empress share. Assuming a USD/CAD exchange rate of 1.35, this translates to ~C$1.30, a premium of approximately 17% over the C$1.11 closing price on December 10. A transaction of this size at a premium is a strong positive valuation signal from a new strategic investor.
– Context of Seller is Key: The seller is Terra Capital, a fund managed by Jeremy Bond. This is critical because on December 3, 2025, just eight days prior, Empress announced Mr. Bond’s resignation from the board, where he served as a director and co-founder. An exiting co-founder’s fund selling a 9.9% stake would typically be a major red flag. However, by structuring the exit as a direct sale to a new strategic partner rather than selling into the open market, the negative impact is largely neutralized. The positive framing from Mr. Bond helps mitigate concerns about his fund’s departure. This removes a significant potential stock overhang.
– Introduction of a Fintech Partner: The buyer, Streamex, is not a traditional mining investor but a NASDAQ-listed company focused on tokenizing real-world assets. This partnership introduces a novel and potentially high-growth angle to the Empress story. It could open future avenues for innovative financing or creating new investment products based on Empress’s royalty and stream portfolio, attracting a different class of investor to the company.
– Alignment with Strong Fundamentals: This strategic transaction comes on the back of a year of exceptional operational performance. Empress has consistently reported record revenue and positive operating cash flow throughout 2025, driven by its producing assets, particularly the Tahuehueto silver stream which achieved commercial production in March. The company’s financial health has improved to the point where management states it can self-fund near-term growth.
In conclusion, the news successfully replaces a founding shareholder with a forward-looking strategic partner at a premium valuation. This validates the company’s progress, strengthens the shareholder base, and introduces an intriguing, albeit nascent, opportunity in the digital asset space.
Catalysts
– Integration with Streamex: Watch for any further announcements regarding the partnership. Specifically, whether Streamex will be granted a board seat, which would solidify the strategic nature of the investment.
– Portfolio Growth: The company has been signaling new acquisitions. Look for the closing of the binding term sheet for the Milford mine royalty (announced July 4, 2025) and any updates on the other US-based stream opportunity mentioned on February 13, 2025.
– Q4 and Full-Year 2025 Financials: Given the performance in the first nine months, expectations will be high for continued strong revenue and cash flow growth. Continued execution is key to justifying the stock’s recent rally and the premium paid by Streamex.
– Warrant Exercise: With C$0.60 warrants deeply in the money, watch for further exercises which would bolster the company’s cash position with minimal dilution relative to the current share price.
Materiality Conclusion
The news is material and positive. The change in a major shareholder from a departing co-founder to a new strategic technology partner at a premium price fundamentally enhances the investment thesis for Empress Royalty. It provides third-party validation of the company’s asset quality and management’s execution while introducing a unique, forward-looking catalyst through the potential tokenization of its assets.
