Archaea Energy, which combined with Rice Acquisition Corp. in September 2021, announced that it has agreed to be acquired by BP (NYSE:BP) for $26 per share.
The price is a 38% premium to Archaea’s 30-day VWAP and represents a major victory for a de-SPAC at time when the market has been rather short on good SPAC news. Rice initially struck its combination with Archaea at an enterprise value of $1.15 billion in April 2021 and now 18 months after the announcement, Archaea has more than tripled this valuation to $4.1 billion in the sale.
The original business combination was also somewhat unique in that it was a three-way merger between Aria Energy and Archaea, the former of which was larger, and the latter was a portfolio company of Rice’s sponsor, Rice Investment Group.
Archaea produces renewable natural gas captured from waste emissions out of farms and landfills, and, as such, in some ways cuts the profile of a new technology player at a time when the market has scrutinized such companies. But, it was also fully commercialized and profitable before launching its SPAC deal.
It generated $76.1 million in EBITDA in 2021 and has further benefitted from world events that have accelerated momentum towards energy resources that are renewable and not coming from Russia.
From BP’s point of view, Archaea will add more clean energy resources to its portfolio and by the same token reduce the weight of the dirtier sides of its operations. That could potentially be a strategy that other strategic players could employ with several renewable energy de-SPACs seemingly undervalued by market conditions.
Columbus Circle I (NASDAQ:CCCM) has entered into a definitive agreement to combine with ProCap Financial as part of a raise of about $1 billion in capital for the target company. ProCap aims to build a Bitcoin treasury that will eventually provide the backing for a financial institution providing investment banking services. The combined company is...
At the SPAC of Dawn SPACs have a busy week of votes ahead of them with six special meetings to approve extensions and three to complete business combinations. JVSPAC (NASDAQ:JVSA) is set to kick off the run of deal votes tomorrow as it seeks approval to tie things up with Southeast Asian hospitality chain Hotel101....
Terms Tracker for the Week Ending June 20, 2025 Welcome to our weekly column where we discuss the findings from our IPO terms tracker based on the previous week’s pricings. Two more SPACs priced IPOs this week, one each from Cohen and Cantor. That brings June’s IPO count to five and the 2025 year-to-date tally...
CSLM Digital Asset (NASDAQ:KOYNU) has filed for a $200 million IPO to hunt for a crypto transaction with a team that includes veterans from a variety of other SPAC efforts. The new SPAC sports 1/2 warrants in units and will have 24 months to initially close a business combination. It becomes the 16th SPAC that...
At the SPAC of Dawn The past year has seen a string of serial sponsor teams return to market, with some already listing multiple vehicles in a full return to the hunt. One prolific SPAC leader that has been conspicuously absent from this return so far has been Chamath Palihapitiya, who has been a part...