LanzaTech to list on Nasdaq in US$2.2 billion Spac deal

Jennifer Holmgren, chief executive of LanzaTech. Photo /Suplied

New Zealand technology company LanzaTech has announced plans to list on the Nasdaq through merging with a special purpose acquisition company (Spac) in a deal expected to value it at US$2.2 billion.

LanzaTech began in New Zealand in 2005 and uses microbial technology that converts industrial pollution into fuel.

After a successful trial creating ethanol at New Zealand's Glenbrook steel mill in 2008, LanzaTech demonstrated the technology using live emissions from a steel mill in China in 2008.

The Auckland startup received more than $14 million in grants from various Crown agencies before American venture capital company Khosla took majority control in early 2014 and it decamped to the US state of Illinois - where the local government was dangling tax credits.

But its current backers still include Sir Stephen Tindall's K1W1 investment fund and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund.

LanzaTech announced overnight it had agreed to merge with AMCI Acquisition Corp - a Spac that is already listed on the Nasdaq - in a deal it expected to close by September 30.

The transaction is expected to raise US$275m ($403m) through a combination of AMCI's US$150m held in trust and a further US$125m committed by investors AMCI, ArcelorMittal, BASF, K1W1, Khosla Ventures, Mitsui & Co, LTD, New Zealand Superannuation Fund, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures LLC, Primetals Technologies, SHV Energy and Trafigura.

Proceeds from the transaction would be used to fund LanzaTech's business plans, accelerate commercial operations and fund development projects.

Dr Jennifer Holmgren, chief executive of LanzaTech, said the company was showing the world what was possible by radically rethinking how to source, use and dispose of carbon.

"We believe with AMCI that this is a transformative step in our quest to create a sustainable future for all, where everything can be made from recycled carbon."

Nimesh Patel, chief executive of AMCI Acquisition Corp II, said its primary
objective in forming the company was to partner with a disruptive company focused on decarbonising the heavy industrial complex and transitioning the global energy mix to a lower carbon footprint.

"We are pleased to have found that partner in LanzaTech. LanzaTech is facilitating the creation of a circular economy where carbon can be reused rather than wasted
through the adoption of its economically viable and scalable technology, designed to enable industrial users of carbon-intensive inputs and raw materials to reduce their environmental impact and to replace materials made from virgin fossil fuel resources with recycled carbon.

"We are excited to partner with LanzaTech as it continues to scale its technology deployment and grow its business."

The deal implies a pro forma enterprise value of US$1.8b and a pro forma equity value of around US$2.2b and is subject to approval by AMCI and LanzaTech's stockholders.

Last year New Zealand's Rocket Lab also listed via a Spac.