RNG platform Archaea Energy reports closing of SPAC merger

The acquisition by Rice Acquisition Corp (NYSE:RICE), or RAC, of Aria Energy LLC and Archaea Energy LLC has been completed and the resulting US renewable natural gas (RNG) platform is now known as Archaea Energy Inc.

The combined business announced this on Wednesday, saying that as of September 16 its Class A common stock and warrants will trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the respective symbols LFG and LFG WS.

The merger, with a total enterprise value of USD 1.15 billion (EUR 978m), was agreed in April. According to the latest announcement, it was financed primarily by about USD 237 million of cash from RAC’s cash-in-trust, USD 220 million in proceeds from corporate level debt and USD 300 million from a private investment in public equity (PIPE).

Earlier this year, Archaea Energy also entered into USD 133 million of project financing in relation to Project Assai, a high-Btu RNG facility under construction near Scranton in Pennsylvania. That plant is expected to be completed in the opening quarter of 2022.

Archaea Energy said it will use the remaining proceeds to finance its growth strategy. This will include upgrading its legacy RNG projects, converting existing landfill gas-to-electric projects to RNG projects and developing its backlog of greenfield RNG project opportunities. The senior management team of Archaea Energy LLC will continue to lead the company, including CEO Nick Stork, president Richard Walton and CFO Eric Javidi.

Before the transaction, RAC was a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) led by former executives of Rice Energy Inc that was acquired by natural gas producer EQT Corp (NYSE:EQT) for USD 6.7 billion in 2017.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.851)

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