About ESM

ESM Acquisition Corporation is a blank check company seeking to benefit from the global transition towards a low carbon economy.

The ESM leadership team’s expertise and experience in the mining and natural resources sectors provides us with a competitive advantage in potentially finding an attractive target that explores for, mines, processes and/or refines commodities that are critical in order to achieve de-carbonization.

Market Opportunity

The growing impact of climate change has created an ever-increasing sense of urgency among governments, corporations and communities to reduce global carbon emissions, which are reflected in the 2016 Paris Agreement. We believe that government regulation and a global consensus around the need to reduce CO2 emissions will necessitate wide-ranging changes in the generation, storage and use of energy, which has the potential to result in structural changes to many segments of the global economy.

Leadership team

• Sir Mick Davis, CEO MORE

  Sir Mick Davis has over 40 years of experience in the industrial, mining and natural resources sectors. During this time, Sir Mick Davis has been involved in raising approximately $35 billion in capital globally and has successfully completed over $120 billion worth of corporate transactions.

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  Sir Mick Davis’ experience includes his involvement as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director in the listing of Billiton plc on the London Stock Exchange in 1997, which grew to be a multi-national mining company with an approximately $10 billion market capitalization by 2001 when it merged with BHP Limited. As of December 31, 2020, the successor entity, BHP Group was the world’s largest mining company, with a market capitalization of approximately $152 billion.

  Sir Mick Davis also served for 12 years as Chief Executive Officer of Xstrata, an Anglo-Swiss multi-national mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and primarily listed on the London Stock Exchange. While at Xstrata, Sir Mick Davis led a business strategy centered on the thesis that industrialization in Asia, particularly in China, would result in structural increases in demand and price for key industrial commodities. As part of that strategy, he oversaw approximately $35 billion of acquisitions, growing Xstrata from that of a smaller and more regionalized company with assets in 7 countries and a market capitalization of approximately $500 million in 2001, to that of a global, diversified mining company with assets in 20 countries and an approximate market capitalization of $54 billion in 2013. In May 2013, Sir Mick Davis oversaw the successful merger of Xstrata with Glencore plc, at a 15% premium to its share price at announcement valuing Xstrata at approximately $62 billion.

  Sir Mick Davis has also served as Chairman of Macsteel Group since 2016 and has served as a director on the board of Coronado Global Resources Inc. since 2020. He also serves on the boards of Dangote Cement plc and certain private companies with interests in technology, financial technology and cybersecurity.

• John Raymond, Chairman MORE

  Mr. Raymond is a Co-Founder and the Chief Executive Officer of The Energy & Minerals Group (“EMG”), a leading diversified natural resources-focused private equity firm. Since its formation in 2006, EMG has raised approximately $11 billion of capital across its five primary funds with an additional approximately $5 billion raised via co-investments, for a total of approximately $16 billion in capital raised, and currently manages 24 portfolio businesses.

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  As of September 30, 2020, EMG had more than $10 billion remaining in Regulatory Assets Under Management, as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, as amended. Total distributions to limited partners between fund inception and September 30, 2020 has been approximately $10 billion.

  EMG’s founding thesis was to pursue a strategy aimed at delivering long-term value for investors through the acquisition and/or development of low-cost, long-lived and large-scale assets that produce high quality products vital to the global economy. EMG’s focus has been to optimize and further develop and expand such assets with a focus on rigorous cost control and operational efficiency measures.

  Mr. Raymond has led EMG in connection with multiple noteworthy and successful investments, including:

  • Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP (“Tallgrass”)—EMG invested $488 million in Tallgrass in 2012. After its successful IPO in 2015, Tallgrass was acquired in 2019 by Blackstone Infrastructure Partners and other investors for $3.3 billion.
  • Medallion Gathering & Processing, LLC (“Medallion”)—in a series of investments from 2011 to 2016, EMG acquired a 51% interest in Medallion for $159 million. In 2017, Medallion was sold to an affiliate of Global Infrastructure Partners (“GIP”) for $1.825 billion plus additional cash consideration linked to GIP’s realized profits at exit.
  • MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources, LLC (“MarkWest Liberty”)—in a series of investments from 2009 to 2011, EMG acquired a 49% interest in MarkWest Liberty for $404 million. In 2011, MarkWest Energy Partners, LP acquired MarkWest Liberty for $1 billion in cash and about $700 million in stock.
  • INR Energy, LLC (“INR Energy”)—in 2007, EMG acquired a 49% interest in INR Energy for $92 million. In 2010, Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., one of the largest producers of iron ore in North America, acquired the West Virginia coal operations of INR Energy, resulting in EMG’s net proceeds of $316 million.
  • Coronado Global Resources, Inc. (“Coronado Resources”)—EMG has invested $1.1 billion in Coronado Resources. In October 2018, Coronado executed a $550 million equity raise in one of Australia’s biggest coal IPOs. As of February 2021, EMG owns 55%+ of Coronado Resources at a market capitalization of $1.4 billion ($770 million net to EMG).

  Prior to founding EMG in 2006, Mr. Raymond served in a number of senior executive management roles within the energy sector over a period of 14 years. These roles include his time as Chief Executive Officer of Plains Resources, Inc. (“Plains Resources”), a publicly traded company, from 2002 to 2004. Following the management-led buyout of Plains Resources in 2004, Mr. Raymond served as Chief Executive Officer of the successor entity, Vulcan Energy Corporation, from 2004 to 2005.

  In addition to his current role as Chief Executive Officer of EMG, Mr. Raymond serves on the boards of 25 companies, including public and private portfolio companies of EMG, as well as several companies not owned by or affiliated with EMG.

• John G. Calvert, Vice Chairman MORE

  Mr. Calvert, is a Co-Founder and the President of EMG. In his role as President, Mr. Calvert is, along with Mr. Raymond, responsible for directing EMG’s strategic and investment decisions, as well as managing EMG’s investment portfolio on a day-to-day basis.

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  Mr. Calvert has 28 years of experience in the natural resources sector. Prior to founding EMG with Mr. Raymond in 2006, Mr. Calvert had a successful 13 year career as an investment banker responsible for initiating, structuring and executing transactions in the mining and natural resources industries. In particular, from 2005 to 2006, Mr. Calvert served as a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank Securities in the Large-Cap investment banking coverage group based in New York, where he provided strategic counsel and transaction execution advice to Deutsche Bank’s global mining and metals clients. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank in 2005, Mr. Calvert was a Managing Director and Global Head of Mining Investment Banking at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he had global coverage responsibility for the mining sector.

  In addition to his role as President of EMG, Mr. Calvert currently serves as a director on the boards of nine portfolio companies of EMG.

• Jeffrey A. Ball, Chief Financial Officer MORE

  Mr. Ball, is a Managing Director of EMG, which he joined in October 2007. At EMG, Mr. Ball is one of the senior executives responsible for implementing the firm’s strategic and investment activities and managing its investment portfolio.

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  Mr. Ball has over 24 years of experience in the financial and energy sectors, including 14 years in private equity. Prior to joining EMG in October 2007, Mr. Ball had a successful career in the investment banking industry, having been involved in over $40 billion of capital markets and financial advisory transactions. This includes Mr. Ball’s time as a senior coverage officer in the Investment Banking Group at Credit Suisse from 2000 to 2007 and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette from 1996 to 2000, where he was responsible for advising companies in the energy and mining sectors.

  Mr. Ball currently serves as a director on the boards of 12 companies, including Ascent Resources, LLC, Eagle LNG Partners LLC, Nunavut Iron Ore, Inc., Ferus Natural Gas Fuels Inc. and Ferus, Inc.

• Michael Gamson, Independent Director MORE

  Mr. Gamson has more than 30 years of experience in the energy and commodity trading business. He served as Senior Partner/Shareholder and Vice Chairman of the Trading Committee at Vitol Inc. from 1996 to 2010. During that time, Vitol grew into the largest energy trading company in the world, and was ranked the 4th largest privately held company in the world in 2008 by Forbes.

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  Prior to joining Vitol Inc., Mr. Gamson was a partner at Hess Corporation and helped the start-up of their physical and paper trading platform. Mr. Gamson also managed the clean products trading business at Phillip Brothers Inc. from 1986 to 1990.

  Mr. Gamson currently sits on the Board of Trustees of Yeshiva University and serves as a Trustee of The Washington Institute for Near East Studies. Mr. Gamson also serves as a Trustee of Yes Prep, a public charter school in Houston Texas educating over 15,000 at risk youth.

• Joseph Norville, Independent Director MORE

  Mr. Norville is a former Partner at KPMG. He has more than 35 years of experience in tax planning, reporting and structuring of transactions for public and privately held clients. Mr. Norville served as the Dallas/Denver Business Unit Partner in Charge for Tax for more than ten years and six years as KPMG’s West Region Managing Partner for Tax. In this role, he was responsible for approximately 50% of the U.S. business operations for KPMG’s tax practice.

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  Mr. Norville has participated in over 100 audit committee meetings, helping the audit committees of many public companies understand tax risks and emerging tax laws. He has also addressed tax issues for numerous clients pursuing initial public offerings.

  Mr. Norville is a past Chairman of the Board for the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center and of the Childcare Group of Dallas. He has also served on the Board of the Texas 4H Foundation, Family Gateway and the Advisory Board for Baylor’s Accounting Program.

• Brett A. Olsher, Independent Director MORE

  Mr. Olsher is the Founder and Managing Partner of OLEX., a global consulting and impact investment firm focusing on the natural resources and industrial sectors, with a specific commitment to sustainability.

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  Mr. Olsher had an 18 year career as an investment banker. He was a Partner at Goldman Sachs, serving as chairman of the Global Natural Resources Group at Goldman Sachs until 2019. In this role, Mr. Olsher advised on approximately $410 billion of mergers and acquisitions transactions as well as approximately $124 billion of financings. Notable transactions that Mr. Olsher advised on include the merger of BHP and Billiton and Xstrata’s acquisition of Falconbridge.

  Before his career in investment banking, Mr. Olsher spent 10 years as President of Olsher Metals Corporation, a global commodities trading, processing and logistics firm. From 1983 to 1986, he was a member of the professional staff at Price Waterhouse, where he qualified as a CPA.

  Mr. Olsher is currently a Senior Advisor to Trafigura and a Member of the Board of Directors of CRU International.

• John Carr, Independent Director MORE

  Mr. Carr has over 30 years of experience in the natural resources sector focused in the trading of commodities, He headed Arcadia Petroleum’s crude oil futures and forwards business and the Atlantic Basin crude oil marketing team until 1999. Mr. Carr also built and led commodities trading teams for Salomon Brothers’ energy trading subsidiary Phibro Energy.

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  In 1999, Mr. Carr founded Gulf Petroleum International Limited (GPIL), a broking and consulting business based in Dublin, Ireland. In 2014, GPIL founded its investment and consulting vehicle, Clonsilla Capital Limited, to invest in Real Estate Assets in the Irish Market. Through Clonsilla Capital Limited, Mr. Carr also co-founded two technology companies.

  Mr. Carr is currently on the Board of Advantek Corp LLC, a data solution company, and the Advisory Board of Amherst Capital, a real estate investment specialist.