On March 26, 2026, Dolly Varden Silver Corporation (TSXV, NYSE-A) completed its merger of equals with Contango ORE, Inc. (NYSE-A) pursuant to a statutory plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) (BCBCA). Under the terms of the arrangement, shareholders of Dolly Varden received 0.1652 of a Contango share for each Dolly Varden share held, or, for eligible Canadian shareholders of Dolly Varden who validly elected, exchangeable shares in a Canadian subsidiary of Contango, subject to the terms of the arrangement.
The all-share transaction resulted in a roughly 50/50 ownership split between the two shareholder bases, with the combined company expected to have a market capitalization of approximately C$1.1 billion. The merger received overwhelming shareholder support at meetings held on March 17, 2026, and brings together Contango’s producing gold assets in Alaska with Dolly Varden’s high-grade silver-gold resources in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia.
Following completion, the combined entity was rebranded Contango Silver & Gold Inc. Dolly Varden’s common shares were delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange effective at the close of trading on March 27, 2026, and from the NYSE American on April 6, 2026, with Contango applying to list its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Stikeman Elliott LLP acted as Canadian counsel to Dolly Varden with a team that included Victor Gerchikov, Ben Schach, Carol Bai, Veronica Plihal, Grace Hardwicke-Brown, and Denise Duifhuis (Corporate); and Julie D’Avignon, Gordon Masson, Jean-Guillaume Shooner, Judy Liang, and Fay Wang (Tax). Dorsey & Whitney LLP acted as US counsel to Dolly Varden. Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP acted as Canadian counsel to Contango ORE, and Holland & Knight LLP acted as US counsel to Contango ORE.