Renewable energy technology firm Vast Solar has entered into a Business Combination Agreement with Nabors Energy Transition Corp. (NETC) valued at $586 million (AUD$ 847 million) – a deal that will result in Vast listing on the New York Stock Exchange while remaining headquartered in Australia.
NETC is an affiliate of Nabors Industries Ltd., a provider of technology for the energy sector with operations in over 15 countries worldwide and an enterprise value of over $3.5 billion.
Under the agreement, the combined entity will be named Vast and is expected to be listed on NYSE under the ticker symbol “VSTE”.
This deal demonstrates Nabors’ dedication to the energy transition by extending its ongoing internal technology development efforts and venture investments in clean, baseload, and scalable energy technologies.
It also presents a chance to make use of Nabors’ extensive global supply chain and operational footprint, advanced engineering and manufacturing capabilities, and significant expertise in robotics and automation.
The merger, which has the potential to attract inward investment, create jobs, and reduce emissions in Australia, will also hasten Vast’s Australian-made concentrated solar thermal power technology’s global implementation.
Craig Wood, CEO of Vast, expressed his excitement over the agreement with NETC to accelerate the deployment of the CSP technology globally.
“By providing clean, renewable energy with low-cost, long-duration storage, our CSP system can be incorporated as dispatchable generation in a way that is not possible using PV solar or wind with batteries,” Wood said.
Anthony Petrello, Nabors CEO, said the company looks forward to supporting Vast to extend the leadership role Vast has established in the CSP space.
“We believe the transaction will accelerate the deployment of Vast’s technology, while furthering Nabors’ commitment to ‘Energy Without Compromise’ and support of companies on the cutting edge of advanced energy technology,” Petrello added.
The transaction is expected to provide gross proceeds of up to $351 million (AUD$ 507 million) to Vast to be funded in a combination of a pre-closing convertible note financing and a private placement of ordinary shares of Vast at closing.
