Norton Rose Fulbright advises Cadiz in US$20 million financing for Mojave groundwater bank project

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright represented California water solutions company Cadiz Inc. in its US$20 million financing through a registered direct offering of 5,715,000 shares of common stock priced at US$3.50 per share. Proceeds from the offering will be used to support the development and construction of the company’s groundwater banking project, the Mojave Groundwater Bank, located in the Mojave Desert. 

With 2.5 million acre-feet of new water supply and an estimated 30 million acre-feet of water in storage, the Mojave Groundwater Bank is expected to be the largest groundwater storage bank in the Southwest. The project will include more than 300 miles of pipelines that intersect California’s water transportation network to provide clean water supply and access to storage to underserved, disadvantaged and tribal communities in the Mojave River Basin, the Colorado River Basin and California’s Inland Empire.

The transaction, which closed on March 10, 2025, will primarily fund the purchase of equipment and materials related to the  construction of facilities including the northern and southern water conveyance pipelines, which Cadiz expects to begin this year. Proceeds may also be used for the development of wellfield infrastructure, working capital and the expansion of the business.

Founded in 1983, Cadiz is dedicated to providing access to clean, reliable and affordable water through a combination of supply, storage, pipeline and treatment solutions. The company owns 45,000 acres of land in California and provides one the most cost-effective water treatment filtration technologies in the industry.

Norton Rose Fulbright’s deal team was led by Kevin Friedmann and included Yi-Ping Chang (Chicago), Siyuan An (Los Angeles), and George Khoukaz (Dallas).