HEADLINES

Hut 8 Secures $1.07 Billion Line of Credit

Hut 8 has secured a $1.07 billion, four-year senior secured revolving credit facility to expand parent-level liquidity and support early-stage development across its artificial intelligence data center pipeline.

The energy infrastructure platform said the facility is led by a syndicate of 12 banks led by J.P. Morgan and carries an initial borrowing margin of secured overnight financing rate plus 175 basis points.

The money can be drawn as needed and repaid without prepayment penalties.

Hut 8 said the letter-of-credit sublimit supports the company's collateral requirements for site development projects, reducing the need to post cash collateral.

Debt Concerns Prompt Downgrade of AG Growth by TD Cowen

Ag Growth International shares fell sharply after TD Cowen downgraded the farm equipment maker, citing rising refinancing costs and pending debt maturities that will weigh on the stock.

Shares sank 27.4% to settle at C$6.98.

In a report, TD Cowen analyst Michael Tupholme downgraded the stock to hold from buy and lowered its price target by more than half to C$11 from C$23. The downgrade follows Ag Growth's proposal last week to raise interest rates to 9% from 5.25% on C$85 million of senior debentures due in December to extend their maturity to 2030.

AutoCanada Shuts Down Digital Retail Units

AutoCanada is discontinuing its digital auto-retailing initiatives, buying out partner iA Financial Group as it shuts down two unprofitable online platforms to focus on its physical stores.

Shares declined 1.2% to settle at C$22.70.

The Edmonton, Alberta-based auto dealership and collision repair company said it has repurchased iA Financial's 10% stake in their joint entity, 15154871 Canada Inc., for C$8 million to formally exit its online consumer-to-consumer finance and insurance business and its Kijiji-based instant cash offer business.

AutoCanada noted that over the last 12 months ended June 30, the two businesses generated about C$3.6 million in revenue and incurred a net loss of C$6 million. It said it would focus resources on its core dealership and collision operations instead.

AutoCanada Investor Rob Steele Expands Stake

Hudbay Minerals Extends Snow Lake Mine Life, Raises Gold Targets

Hudbay Minerals extended the mine life of its Snow Lake operations by two years and raised its life-of-mine gold production target by more than half.

The miner said the updated plan projects average gold output at 185,000 ounces at an all-in-sustaining cost of $1,379 an ounce through 2030 for the Manitoba project. For Snow Lake, the company now has a gold reserve of 2 million ounces, a 38% increase in tonnage from previous estimates.

The updated technical plan adds 250,000 ounces of gold to its five-year production profile at its Snow Lake complex.

B2Gold's Goose Mine in Northern Canada Set to Hit 2026 Production Goal

B2Gold's Goose mine in northern Canada is on track to hit the company's production target for the year, with a new mobile crusher commissioned and the first phase of upgrades progressing as planned.

The Canadian company said the mine in the Back River Gold District of southwestern Nunavut remains set to produce between 170,000 and 200,000 ounces of gold in 2026. The mine first began producing gold in mid-2025 and declared commercial production in October.

Output in the third quarter of this year is expected to be broadly in line with first-quarter production levels, and production in the final quarter of 2025 is anticipated to be the strongest quarter of the year, thanks to a full quarter of more tons being milled and strong mill feed grade, B2Gold said.

Draganfly Recieves $10 Million Investment From Unusual Machines, Fund

Draganfly received a $10 million strategic investment from Unusual Machines and a U.S. investment fund, each investing $5 million.

The drone technology company said it intends to use the proceeds to accelerate the development of advanced strategic capabilities and to fund general working capital in meeting demand for its products in rapidly maturing U.S. and international markets.

The investment is a registered direct offering to buy 1.9 million shares of Draganfly at $5.35 a share, for proceeds of $10 million, before deducting placement agent discounts and offering expenses. The investment is priced at-market based on the closing price of the company's common shares Friday.

Draganfly said the investment is expected to close on or about Tuesday.

Luca Mining Receives $75 Million Equity Commitment from Goldgroup Mining

Luca Mining has secured a $75 million binding equity commitment from Goldgroup Mining to support its pending acquisition of the Cozamin copper-silver mine in Mexico.

The Canadian mining company said that Goldgroup will take up to a 19.9% strategic stake in Luca through a C$110 million subscription receipt offering, which replaces a backstop previously provided by Trafigura.

Luca said the financing provides capital for its recent $290 million upfront purchase of the mine from Capstone Copper and grants Goldgroup two board seats upon closing.

The company has also agreed to acquire the El Barqueno project, a large-scale exploration and development property in Mexico's Jalisco State previously operated by Agnico Eagle.

Slate Grocery REIT Agrees $2.3 Billion Takeover by Brixmor Property and Everview Partners

Brixmor Property and Everview Partners have agreed to buy grocery-anchored real-estate investor Slate Grocery REIT in a deal valued at $2.34 billion.

Slate Grocery said it has entered a definitive arrangement that will see Brixmor and affiliates of Everview buy the issued and outstanding units of the real estate investment trust for $13 in cash apiece, a 20% premium to the closing price last Wednesday before trading in the trust units was suspended.

Slate Grocery said the takeover will provide its unitholders with immediate liquidity and certainty of value. The offer price marks a premium of 13% to where the units closed May 21, the day before the company said it had launched a review to consider strategic alternatives, including a potential sale of the REIT.

Regulator Investigates Grocery Industry Use of Minimum Advertised Prices

Canada's antitrust regulator has launched an investigation into the use of minimum advertised prices by the country's grocers, policies it says may be restricting competition and keeping lower prices out of reach for consumers.

Minimum advertised pricing, which can be imposed by suppliers or negotiated between suppliers and retailers, sets the lowest price at which a retailer can advertise a product.

The Competition Bureau said that in industries such as retail grocery, where a few large companies dominate the industry, these policies can make it harder for retailers such as discount grocers to offer lower prices and compete for customers.

TALKING POINT

U.S. Pressure Is Awakening an Energy Giant in Canada

By Jinjoo Lee

Canada wants to become an energy superpower. If it has the will, there is a way.

The country is the world's fourth-largest oil producer and fifth-largest natural-gas producer. The oil-and-gas sector represents about a fifth of the country's exports, making it the largest contributor, according to Statistics Canada. But it sends nearly all of its natural-gas exports and about 90% of crude-oil exports to the U.S., limiting its global influence.

President Trump's trade war and the Iran conflict have ignited Canada's ambition to diversify its energy exports. America's push to import more Venezuelan oil, a heavy grade that competes with the Canadian kind, is another reason for Canada to look beyond its neighbor.

Asian refiners are among those that might want to diversify their crude sources as a result of the instability in the Middle East. Global refining capacity that can process ultraheavy crude is split roughly evenly between the U.S. Gulf Coast and Asia, according to Jonah Resnick, analyst at Wood Mackenzie.

Canada's energy inertia has been, in part, market-driven. Rapid U.S. shale growth had pushed oil prices down and stymied Canadian oil sands' growth plans over the past decade. But policy was also to blame, making it more difficult to build the infrastructure needed to serve markets other than the U.S.

"Previously, infrastructure and resource development had really stalled out due to regulatory and permitting uncertainty," said Robert Kwan, equity analyst at RBC Capital Markets. Today, both of those forces are moving in the other direction.

"We are unleashing our full potential as an energy superpower," Prime Minister Mark Carney said at the Canada Investment Summit earlier this month. He pointed to a project-the West Coast Pipeline-that would carry oil to Asian markets, and to LNG export projects that would double the country's liquefied-natural-gas exports by 2030.

The government is pushing to simplify the permitting process for such infrastructure. Carney has said that he aims to narrow the review process for projects and shorten the process to one year. Historically, reviews of large infrastructure projects have taken two to three years or more, according to Resnick.

Canada is also introducing investment incentives, including a federal tax deduction that will allow oil-and-gas companies to write off the full cost of new wells, pipelines and processing facilities. This would take the deduction rates, which currently range from 25% to 30%, to 100% on new projects, according to a report from BMO Capital Markets. The report estimates that the deduction could improve oil producers' cash flow per share by 6% on average.

In addition, the Alberta government is planning to revise its oil royalty-fee structure to encourage more investment in production, according to local news reports.

These projects have the potential to meaningfully wean Canada from the U.S.