Rice Acquisition Corp. II (RONI) Completes NET Power Deal

Rice II (NYSE: RONI) announced today that it has completed its combination with energy technology company NET Power.

The deal was originally approved by shareholders at a special meeting yesterday with relatively low redemptions. A total of 21,195,224 shares were redeemed in connection to the vote, removing 61% of Rice II’s trust.

NET Power is to receive about $675 million in gross proceeds in the end, including a $540 million PIPE that was upsized from an original target of approximately $225 million.

Additionally, Occidental provided $10 million in interim financing to support the company’s operations through the closing of the business combination. The proceeds from this transaction are expected to fully fund NET Power’s corporate operations and grow its backlog of utility-scale power plant projects, with plant deliveries expected to begin in 2026.

The deal’s PIPE included a $275 million investment from strategic partner Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) and $50 million from the SK Group, which plans to launch a joint venture with NET Power to deploy its natural gas plants in Asia.

The combined company will now operate as NET Power Inc. and its Class A common stock and warrants to purchase Class A common stock will start trading on the NYSE on June 9, under the ticker symbol “NPWR” and “NPWR WS,” respectively.

Rice II inked 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.