Athena Technology II (ATEK) Terminates Air Water Ventures Deal

Athena Technology II (NYSE:ATEK) has terminated its combination with Air Water Ventures, but plans to continue to seek an alternative business combination.

The transaction was well past its extended outside date of August 21, after which Air Water Ventures had the right to terminate if it appeared there was not a reasonable likelihood of Athena Technology II gathering a PIPE of at least $30 million.

The SPAC initially aimed to build a PIPE of up to $60 million but did not have commitments secured at the time of the deal’s announcement in April. All things being equal, attracting PIPEs of that size has been a tall ask in 2023.

Only 10 of the 131 SPAC deals announced in 2023 have featured PIPEs at all, and only two of those – First Light’s tie-up with Calidi Biotherapeutics (NYSE:CLDI) and Investcorp I‘s (NASDAQ:IVCB) with OpSec – raised $30 million or more.

Air Water, meanwhile, cut the profile of a company that was going to need that upfront cash. The Abu Dhabi-based company has developed hardware to harvest sustainable water from the air and dispense it through both consumer and industrial-scale machines.

It had sold about 155 units by the time of the deal announcement, but it appears to have been waiting for contracts for larger-scale deployments.

Athena Technology II can still extend its transaction deadline monthly up to March 14, 2024 without an additional vote and has about $22.7 million in trust with 91% redemptions thus far. It must also complete a transaction before the end of next year as it hits the three-year anniversary of its IPO on December 10, 2024.