Archaea Energy Inc. (“Archaea”) (NYSE: LFG), an industry-leading
renewable natural gas (“RNG”) company, today announced that it has
agreed to be acquired by bp (NYSE: BP) for approximately $26 per
Archaea Class A and Class B share in cash, or a total enterprise
value of approximately $4.1 billion, including approximately $800
million of net debt. The cash consideration represents an
approximately 38 percent premium to Archaea’s volume weighted
average share price for the 30 days ending October 14, 2022.
Nick Stork, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Archaea,
said, “Archaea was founded with a mission to build the world’s
leading RNG development company to reduce global emissions and make
multi-generational sustainability impacts. In a very short period
of time, we have rapidly become a leading RNG platform in the U.S.,
and today’s announcement will further enable this business to
realize its full potential. bp is a world-class partner and a
strong fit for Archaea, with a strategic focus on bioenergy and an
operational history in the RNG value chain that is fully aligned
with ours and our partners’. We are excited to join them in our
mission to increase the role of RNG in helping customers reach
their long-term climate goals, and I look forward to our
hard-working team joining the bp organization to help achieve their
bioenergy objectives. I am incredibly proud of our employees at
Archaea who have driven this tremendous value creation and will
continue to push forward Archaea’s drive to foster clean energy
growth and promote domestic energy reliance.”
Daniel Rice, Chairman of Archaea’s Board, said, "After a
thorough review, our Board determined that combining Archaea’s RNG
assets and our strong development backlog with bp’s existing
bioenergy business and deep operational and financial resources is
the best way to create a stronger platform to achieve Archaea’s
full potential, while maximizing value for our shareholders.
Today’s news would not be possible without the entire Archaea
organization, our best-in-class employees and our industry
partners.”
Strategic Benefits for Archaea and its stakeholders
- bp provides Archaea access to unmatched, world-class platforms,
capabilities, and capital resources for acceleration of its growth
plans.
- Archaea’s business will be able to access bp’s trading
capabilities and broad customer base, further helping many of bp’s
customers achieve their decarbonization goals.
- Archaea will be integral to bp’s existing bioenergy business,
which has established key positions in the segment and is one of
bp’s key transition growth engines, which is anticipated to further
Archaea’s growth into international markets.
Additional Transaction Details
Subject to regulatory approvals and Archaea shareholder
approval, the parties are targeting closing the acquisition by the
end of 2022. Certain existing Archaea shareholders, who
collectively own approximately 27% of Archaea’s outstanding shares,
have agreed to vote their shares in favor of the transaction.
Closing is not subject to any financing condition.
Upon completion of the transaction, Archaea will operate as a
subsidiary within bp and become part of the larger global
organization.
Advisors
BofA Securities acted as financial advisor to Archaea and
Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as Archaea’s legal advisor.
About Archaea Energy
Archaea Energy Inc. is one of the largest RNG producers in the
U.S., with an industry-leading platform and expertise in
developing, constructing, and operating RNG facilities to capture
waste emissions and convert them into low carbon fuel. Archaea’s
innovative, technology-driven approach is backed by significant gas
processing expertise, enabling Archaea to deliver RNG projects that
are expected to have higher uptime and efficiency, faster project
timelines, and lower development costs. Archaea partners with
landfill and farm owners to help them transform potential sources
of emissions into RNG, transforming their facilities into renewable
energy centers. Archaea’s differentiated commercial strategy is
focused on long-term contracts that provide commercial partners a
reliable, non-intermittent, sustainable decarbonizing solution to
displace fossil fuels.
Additional information is available at
www.archaeaenergy.com.
About bp
bp’s ambition is to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner,
and to help the world get to net zero. bp has a larger economic
footprint in the United States than anywhere else in the world,
investing more than $130 billion in the economy since 2005 and
supporting about 245,000 jobs. For more information on bp in the
US, visit www.bp.com/us.
Important Information and Where to Find It
This press release is made in respect of the pending merger
involving Archaea Energy and bp. Archaea Energy will file with the
Securities and Exchange Commissions (the "SEC") a proxy statement
on Schedule 14A relating to its special meeting of stockholders and
may file or furnish other documents with the SEC regarding the
pending merger. When completed, a definitive proxy statement will
be mailed to Archaea’s stockholders. INVESTORS ARE URGED TO
CAREFULLY READ THE PROXY STATEMENT REGARDING THE PENDING MERGER AND
ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME
AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE
PENDING MERGER.
The definitive proxy statement will be filed with the SEC and
mailed or otherwise made available to Archaea’s stockholders.
Archaea's stockholders may obtain free copies of the documents
Archaea files with the SEC from the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or
through the Investors portion of Archaea’s website at
www.archaeaenergy.com.
Participants in the Solicitation
Archaea and its directors and executive officers may be deemed
to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Archaea’s
stockholders in connection with the pending merger. Information
regarding Archaea’s directors and executive officers, including a
description of their direct interests, by security holdings or
otherwise, is contained in Archaea’s Post-Effective Amendment No. 1
to Form S-1 filed with the SEC on August 24, 2022. Other
information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation
and a description of their interests will be contained in the proxy
statement for Archaea’s special meeting of stockholders and other
relevant materials to be filed with the SEC in respect of the
proposed merger when they become available. These documents can be
obtained free of charge from the sources indicated above.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, which
include all statements that do not relate solely to historical or
current facts. Forward-looking statements may relate to
expectations for future financial performance, business strategies
or expectations for Archaea Energy’s business. Forward-looking
statements are typically identified by words such as “plan,”
“believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “outlook,” “estimate,”
“forecast,” “project,” “continue,” “could,” “may,” “might,”
“possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “should,” “would” and other
similar words and expressions, but the absence of these words does
not mean that a statement is not forward-looking.
These forward-looking statements are based on the current
expectations of Archaea’s management and are inherently subject to
uncertainties and changes in circumstances and their potential
effects and speak only as of the date of any such statement. There
can be no assurance that future developments will be those that
have been anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a
number of risks, uncertainties or other assumptions that may cause
actual results or performance to be materially different from those
expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These
risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the
following: (i) the risk that the proposed merger may not be
completed in a timely manner or at all, which may adversely affect
Archaea’s business and the price of Archaea’s common stock; (ii)
the failure to satisfy any of the conditions to the consummation of
the proposed merger, including the receipt of certain regulatory
approvals; (iii) the failure to obtain stockholder approval; (iv)
the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance or
condition that could give rise to the termination of the merger
agreement, including in circumstances requiring Archaea to pay a
termination fee; (v) the effect of the announcement or pendency of
the proposed transaction on Archaea’s business relationships,
operating results and business generally; (vi) risks that the
proposed transaction disrupts Archaea’s current plans and
operations; (vii) Archaea’s ability to retain and hire key
personnel and maintain relationships with key business partners and
customers, and others with whom it does business, in light of the
proposed transaction; (viii) risks related to diverting
management’s attention from Archaea’s ongoing business operations;
(ix) unexpected costs, charges or expenses resulting from the
proposed merger; (x) potential litigation relating to the merger
that could be instituted against the parties to the merger
agreement or their respective directors, managers or officers,
including the effects of any outcomes related thereto; (xi)
continued availability of capital and financing and rating agency
actions; (xii) certain restrictions during the pendency of the
merger that may impact Archaea’s ability to pursue certain business
opportunities or strategic transactions; (xiii) unpredictability
and severity of catastrophic events, including but not limited to
acts of terrorism, war or hostilities or the COVID-19 pandemic, as
well as management’s response to any of the aforementioned factors;
(xiv) the impact of adverse general and industry-specific economic
and market conditions; and (xv) other risks described in Archaea’s
filings with the SEC, including the risks and uncertainties
described in the sections entitled “Risk Factors” in Archaea’s
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31,
2021 or in Archaea’s subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.
Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or
should any of the assumptions made by Archaea’s management prove
incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those
projected in the forward-looking statements contained herein.
Consequences of material differences in results as compared with
those anticipated in the forward-looking statements could include,
among other things, business disruption, operational problems,
financial loss, legal liability to third parties and similar risks,
any of which could have a material adverse effect on the completion
of the merger and/or Archaea’s consolidated financial condition,
results of operations or liquidity. You should not place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are
made. Except to the extent required by applicable law or
regulation, Archaea undertakes no obligation to update any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221016005055/en/
Archaea Energy Megan Light
mlight@archaea.energy 346-439-7589
Blake Schreiber bschreiber@archaea.energy 346-440-1627
bp J.P. Fielder
jp.fielder@bp.com
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