Rice Acquisition Corp. II (RONI) Adds $15M PIPE to NET Power Deal

Rice Acquisition Corp. II (NYSE: RONI) today announced that it has secured $15 million for its PIPE in connection to its business combination with clean natural gas producer NET Power, bringing the total committed capital to approximately $575 million.

Today’s commitments come from certain investors who have agreed to subscribe to an aggregate of 1,500,000 shares of Class A Common Stock. The terms and conditions of these agreements are similar to the previous subscription agreements made in 2022.

Rice II originally brought about $335 million into the deal from its current trust and supplemented this with a $100 million investment by the Rice family and affiliates and $135 million from OXY Investment and others all at $10 per share. The SPAC then announced in April that it had secured an additional $275 million in PIPE financing as Occidental (NYSE: OXY) increased its commitment by $250 million, bringing its total investment to $350 million, and the Rice family committed an additional $25 million to the PIPE, bringing their total investment to $125 million.

The SPAC was also able to secure an additional $50 million earlier this month from SK Group, which announced its intent to establish a NET Power-SK joint venture to pursue the origination and development of utility-scale NET Power plants across Asia. The parties expect to each own a 50% stake in the common equity of the joint venture, which is subject to negotiation and execution of definitive documentation.

Assuming no redemptions, the combined company is expected to have a market capitalization in excess of $2 billion.

Rice II announced its $1.5 billion business combination with NET Power in December 2022. Durham, North Carolina-based NET Power has developed technology to create natural gas-fired plants that capture nearly 100% of their potential CO2 emissions.