As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 7, 2023
No. 333-
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
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FORM
REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
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(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
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| 3620 | 98-1580612 | ||
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number) | (I.R.S. Employer |
404 Hunt Street, Suite 410
Durham, North Carolina
(919) 287-4750
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)
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Akash Patel
Chief Financial Officer
404 Hunt Street, Suite 410
Durham, North Carolina
(919) 287-4750
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
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Copies of all communications, including communications sent to agent for service, should be sent to:
Matthew R. Pacey, P.C.
Lanchi D. Huynh
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
609 Main Street
Houston, Texas 77002
(713) 836-3600
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Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:
From time to time after this registration statement becomes effective
If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box: ☒
If this Form is filed to registered additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | |||||
| ☒ | Smaller reporting company | | |||||
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If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act
The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. The preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and does not constitute the solicitation of offers to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED JULY 7, 2023
NET POWER INC.
201,480,913 SHARES OF CLASS A COMMON STOCK
10,900,000 WARRANTS TO PURCHASE SHARES OF CLASS A COMMON STOCK
This prospectus relates to the resale from time to time of 201,480,913 shares of our Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A Common Stock”), by the selling security holders named in this prospectus or their permitted transferees (each, a “Selling Securityholder” and, collectively, the “Selling Securityholders”), which consist of (i) 54,044,995 shares of Class A Common Stock issued in a private placement that closed substantially concurrently with the consummation of the Merger (as defined herein), (ii) 2,500 shares of Class A Common Stock issued to Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC (“Sponsor”) in a private placement prior to the consummation of the initial public offering (the “IPO”) of Rice Acquisition Corp. II (“RONI”), (iii) 10,900,000 shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants (as defined below), (iv) 7,625,000 shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon redemption of the 7,625,000 units of NET Power Operations LLC (f/k/a Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC and referred to herein as “Opco”) held by the initial shareholders of RONI or transferees thereof, all of which were issued prior to the consummation of the IPO, and (v) 128,908,418 shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon redemption of the 128,908,418 units of Opco (“Opco Units”) issued as consideration upon consummation of the Merger to the Legacy NET Power Holders (as defined herein) party to the Stockholders’ Agreement (as defined herein). In addition, this prospectus relates to the resale from time to time of the 10,900,000 warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”) issued to Sponsor in a private placement that closed simultaneously with the consummation of the IPO. Each Private Placement Warrant is exercisable to purchase for $11.50 one share of Class A Common Stock, subject to adjustment.
The shares of Class A Common Stock and the Private Placement Warrants that may be sold by the Selling Securityholders are collectively referred to in this prospectus as the “Offered Securities.” Our registration of the resale of the Offered Securities does not mean that the Selling Securityholders will offer or sell any of the Offered Securities.
We will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale by the Selling Securityholders of any of the Offered Securities. We will receive the proceeds from the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants for cash, but not from the sale of the underlying shares of Class A Common Stock. We will bear all costs, expenses and fees in connection with the registration of the resale of the Offered Securities. The Selling Securityholders will bear all commissions and discounts, if any, attributable to their respective sales of the Offered Securities.
The Selling Securityholders may offer and sell the securities covered by this prospectus in a number of different ways and at varying prices. We provide more information about how the Selling Securityholders may sell the shares in the section titled “Plan of Distribution.” In addition, certain of the securities being registered hereby are subject to vesting and/or transfer restrictions that may prevent the Selling Securityholders from offering or selling such securities upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. See the section titled “Description of Securities” for more information.
You should carefully read this prospectus, and any applicable prospectus supplement, before you invest in any of our securities.
The Class A Common Stock and warrants initially sold as part of the units issued in the IPO (the “Public Warrants”) are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) under the symbols “NPWR” and “NPWR WS,” respectively. On July 5, 2023, the last sale price of the Class A Common Stock and the Public Warrants as reported on the NYSE were $12.52 per share and $3.29 per warrant, respectively.
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Investing in our securities involves certain risks, including those that are described in the section titled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 8 of this prospectus.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
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The date of this prospectus is , 2023.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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UNAUDITED PRO FORMA CONDENSED COMBINED FINANCIAL INFORMATION |
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS |
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SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT |
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You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus. No one has been authorized to provide you with information that is different from that contained in this prospectus. This prospectus is dated as of the date set forth on the cover hereof. You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus is accurate as of any date other than that date.
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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS
This prospectus is part of a registration statement on Form S-1 that we filed with the SEC using a “shelf” registration process. Under this shelf registration process, the Selling Securityholders may, from time to time, offer and sell, as applicable, any combination of the securities described in this prospectus in one or more offerings. The Selling Securityholders may use the shelf registration statement to sell up to an aggregate of 201,480,913 shares of Class A Common Stock (which includes up to 10,900,000 shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants and 136,533,418 shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon redemption of Opco Units) and up to 10,900,000 Private Placement Warrants from time to time through any means described in the section titled “Plan of Distribution.” More specific terms of any securities that the Selling Securityholders offer and sell may be provided in a prospectus supplement that describes, among other things, the specific amounts and prices of the shares of Class A Common Stock and/or Private Placement Warrants being offered and the terms of the offering.
A prospectus supplement may also add, update or change information included in this prospectus. Any statement contained in this prospectus will be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in such prospectus supplement modifies or supersedes such statement. Any statement so modified will be deemed to constitute a part of this prospectus only as so modified, and any statement so superseded will be deemed not to constitute a part of this prospectus.
You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement is accurate only as of the date on the front of those documents only, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement, or any sale of a security. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.
Neither we nor the Selling Securityholders have authorized anyone to provide any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement or any free writing prospectus we have prepared. We and the Selling Securityholders take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you.
This prospectus is an offer to sell only the securities offered hereby and only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. This prospectus is not an offer to sell securities, and it is not soliciting an offer to buy securities, in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
This prospectus contains summaries of certain provisions contained in some of the documents described herein, but reference is made to the actual documents for complete information. All of the summaries are qualified in their entirety by the actual documents. Copies of some of the documents referred to herein have been filed, will be filed or will be incorporated by reference as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and you may obtain copies of those documents as described below under “Where You Can Find Additional Information.”
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CERTAIN DEFINED TERMS
Unless otherwise expressly stated or, unless the context otherwise requires, references in this prospectus to:
• “8 Rivers” means 8 Rivers Capital, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company;
• “Areca” means Areca, Inc., a Delaware corporation;
• “Amended and Restated JDA” means the Amended and Restated Joint Development Agreement, dated December 13, 2022, by and among Old NET Power, RONI, RONI Opco, NPI and NPT, as amended, supplemented or otherwise modified from time to time in accordance with its terms;
• “Baker Hughes” means Baker Hughes Company, a Delaware corporation;
• “BH License Agreement” means the License Agreement, dated February 3, 2022, by and between Old NET Power and NPT, as amended, supplemented or otherwise modified from time to time in accordance with its terms;
• “BHES” means Baker Hughes Energy Services LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and affiliate of Baker Hughes;
• “Board” or “Board of Directors” means the board of directors of the Company.
• “Business Combination Agreement” means the Business Combination Agreement, dated as of December 13, 2022, by and among RONI, RONI Opco, Buyer, Merger Sub and Old NET Power, as amended by the First Amendment to the Business Combination Agreement, dated as of April 23, 2023, by and between Buyer and Old NET Power;
• “Business Combination” means the Domestications, the Merger and other transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement, collectively, including the PIPE Financing;
• “Buyer” means Topo Buyer Co, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of Opco (following the Domestications) or of RONI Opco (prior to the Domestications);
• “Bylaws” means the bylaws of NET Power adopted on June 8, 2023;
• “Certificate of Incorporation” means the certificate of incorporation of NET Power filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on June 8, 2023;
• “Chamaedorea” means Chamaedorea, Inc., a Delaware corporation;
• “Class A Common Stock” means the Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of NET Power;
• “Class A Shares” means the Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, of RONI, which automatically converted, on a one-for-one basis, into shares of Class A Common Stock in connection with the Domestication;
• “Class B Common Stock” means the Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of NET Power;
• “Class B Shares” means the Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, of RONI, which automatically converted, on a one-for-one basis, into shares of Class B Common Stock in connection with the Domestication;
• “Closing” means the consummation of the business combination contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement;
• “Closing Date” means June 8, 2023, the date on which the Closing occurred;
• “Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended;
• “Common Stock” means the Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock;
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• “Company,” “our,” “we” or “us” means, prior to the Business Combination, RONI or Old NET Power, as the context suggests, and, following the Business Combination, NET Power.
• “Constellation” means Constellation Energy Generation, LLC, a Pennsylvania limited liability company formerly known as Exelon Generation Company, LLC;
• “Continental” means Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company;
• “Domestication” means the change of RONI’s jurisdiction of registration by deregistering as a Cayman Islands exempted company and continuing and domesticating as a corporation registered under the laws of the State of Delaware, upon which RONI changed its name to NET Power Inc.;
• “Domestications” means the Domestication and the Opco Domestication;
• “Effective Time” means the time at which the Merger became effective;
• “Exchange Act” means the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
• “IPO” means RONI’s initial public offering, which was consummated on June 18, 2021;
• “Legacy NET Power Holders” means the holders of equity securities of Old NET Power prior to the consummation of the Merger;
• “Merger” means the merger of Merger Sub with and into Old NET Power pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, in which Old NET Power survived and became a wholly owned direct subsidiary of Buyer;
• “Merger Sub” means Topo Merger Sub, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of Buyer;
• “NET Power” means NET Power Inc., a Delaware corporation (f/k/a Rice Acquisition Corp. II), upon and after the Domestication;
• “NPEH” means NPEH, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company;
• “NPI” means Nuovo Pignone International, S.r.l., an Italian limited liability company and affiliate of Baker Hughes;
• “NPT” means Nuovo Pignone Tecnologie S.r.l., an Italian limited liability company and affiliate of Baker Hughes;
• “NYSE” means the New York Stock Exchange;
• “Old NET Power” means, prior to the consummation of the Merger, NET Power, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company;
• “Opco” means NET Power Operations LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (f/k/a Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC), upon and after the Opco Domestication;
• “Opco Domestication” means the change of RONI Opco’s jurisdiction of registration by deregistering as a Cayman Islands exempted company and continuing and domesticating as a limited liability company registered under the laws of the State of Delaware, upon which RONI Opco changed its name to NET Power Operations LLC;
• “Opco LLC Agreement” means the Second Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of Opco, dated as of June 8, 2023, which was entered into in connection with the Closing;
• “Opco Unitholder” means a holder of Opco Units;
• “Opco Units” means the units of Opco;
• “Ordinary Shares” means the Class A Shares and the Class B Shares together;
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• “Original JDA” means the Joint Development Agreement, dated February 3, 2022, by and among Old NET Power, NPI and NPT, as amended by the First Amendment to Joint Development Agreement, dated effective June 30, 2022, by and among the same parties;
• “OXY” means OLCV NET Power, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company;
• “PIPE Financing” means the issuance and sale of 54,044,995 shares of Class A Common Stock for aggregate consideration of $540,449,950 in private placements pursuant to subscription agreements that RONI entered into with certain qualified institutional buyers and accredited investors, which was consummated immediately prior to the Merger;
• “PIPE Investors” means the investors who participated in the PIPE Financing;
• “PIPE Subscription Agreements” means the subscription agreements, entered into by RONI and the PIPE Investors in connection with the PIPE Financing;
• “Preferred Stock” means shares of NET Power preferred stock, par value $0.0001;
• “Principal Legacy NET Power Holders” means OXY, Constellation and 8 Rivers (through NPEH);
• “Private Placement Warrants” means the 10,900,000 warrants to purchase shares of Class A Common Stock that were issued and sold to Sponsor in a private placement in connection with the IPO;
• “Public Warrants” means the warrants to purchase shares of Class A Common Stock that were issued and sold as part of the RONI Units in the IPO;
• “RONI” means Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Islands exempted company, prior to the Domestication;
• “RONI Opco” means Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company and direct subsidiary of RONI, prior to the Domestications;
• “RONI Units” means the units of RONI sold in the IPO, each of which consisted of one Class A Share and one-fourth of one Public Warrant;
• “SEC” means the Securities and Exchange Commission;
• “Securities Act” means the Securities Act of 1933, as amended;
• “Selling Securityholders” means the persons listed in the table in the section titled “Selling Securityholders” and the pledgees, donees, transferees, assignees, successors, designees and others who later come to hold any of such persons’ interest in the Class A Common Stock or Warrants other than through a public sale;
• “Serial Number 1” means our first commercial plant deployment;
• “SK” means SK Inc., a company registered in South Korea;
• “Sponsor” means Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, a Delaware limited liability company;
• “Sponsor Letter Agreement” means the letter agreement, dated December 13, 2022, by and among RONI, Sponsor, RONI Opco, Old NET Power and RONI’s directors and officers;
• “Stockholders’ Agreement” means the Stockholders’ Agreement, dated as of June 8, 2023, by and among RONI, RONI Opco, Sponsor and the NET Power Holders (as defined therein);
• “Tax Receivable Agreement” means the Tax Receivable Agreement, dated June 8, 2023, entered into by NET Power and Opco with Opco Unitholders who received Opco Units pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement as consideration for equity interests in Old NET Power and the Agent (as defined therein);
• “Tillandsia” means Tillandsia, Inc., a Delaware corporation;
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• “Warrant Agreement” means the Warrant Agreement, dated as of June 15, 2021, by and among RONI, RONI Opco and Continental as it may be amended and/or restated from time to time in accordance with its terms; and
• “Warrants” means, collectively, the Public Warrants and Private Placement Warrants.
In addition, the following is a glossary of key industry terms used herein:
• “$/MWh” means dollar per megawatt-hour;
• “CI” means Carbon Intensity;
• “CO2” means carbon dioxide;
• “CO2e/kWh” means carbon dioxide emissions per kilowatt-hour;
• “GW” means gigawatt;
• “MW” means megawatt;
• “MWe” means megawatt electrical;
• “MWth” means megawatt thermal;
• “NOX” means nitrogen oxides;
• “sCO2” means supercritical CO2; and
• “SOX” means sulfur oxides.
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Sources of Industry and Market Data
Where information has been sourced from a third party, the source of such information has been identified. Unless otherwise indicated, the information contained in this prospectus on the market environment, market developments, growth rates, market trends and competition in the markets in which we operate is taken from publicly available sources, including third-party sources, or reflects our estimates that are principally based on information from publicly available sources.
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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This prospectus contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Statements that do not relate strictly to historical or current facts are forward-looking and usually identified by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “future,” “intend,” “may,” “opportunity,” “plan,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “strategy,” “will,” “will likely result,” “would” and other similar words and expressions, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements may relate to the benefits of the Business Combination, the development of the Company’s technology, the anticipated demand for the Company’s technology and the markets in which the Company operates, the timing of the deployment of plant deliveries, and the Company’s business strategies, capital requirements, potential growth opportunities and expectations for future performance (financial or otherwise). Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates, projections, targets, opinions and/or beliefs of the Company, and such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors.
The risks and uncertainties that could cause those actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: (i) risks relating to the uncertainty of the projected financial information with respect to the Company and risks related to the Company’s ability to meet its projections; (ii) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the Business Combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of the Company to grow and manage growth profitably and the ability of the Company retain its management and key employees; (iii) the Company’s ability to utilize its net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards effectively; (iv) the capital-intensive nature of the Company’s business model, which may require the Company to raise additional capital in the future; (v) barriers the Company may face in its attempts to deploy and commercialize its technology; (vi) the complexity of the machinery the Company relies on for its operations and development; (vii) the Company’s ability to establish and maintain supply relationships; (viii) risks related to the Company’s arrangements with third parties for the development, commercialization and deployment of technology associated with the Company’s technology; (ix) risks related to the Company’s other strategic investors and partners; (x) the Company’s ability to successfully commercialize its operations; (xi) the availability and cost of raw materials; (xii) the ability of the Company’s supply base to scale to meet the Company’s anticipated growth; (xiii) the Company’s ability to expand internationally; (xiv) the Company’s ability to update the design, construction and operations of its technology; (xv) the impact of potential delays in discovering manufacturing and construction issues; (xvi) the possibility of damage to the Company’s Texas facilities as a result of natural disasters; (xvii) the ability of commercial plants using the Company’s technology to efficiently provide net power output; (xviii) the Company’s ability to obtain and retain licenses; (xix) the Company’s ability to establish an initial commercial scale plant; (xx) the Company’s ability to license to large customers; (xxi) the Company’s ability to accurately estimate future commercial demand; (xxii) the Company’s ability to adapt to the rapidly evolving and competitive natural and renewable power industry; (xxiii) the Company’s ability to comply with all applicable laws and regulations; (xxiv) the impact of public perception of fossil fuel-derived energy on the Company’s business; (xxv) any political or other disruptions in gas producing nations; (xxvi) the Company’s ability to protect its intellectual property and the intellectual property it licenses; (xxvii) the Company’s ability to meet stock exchange listing standards following the Business Combination; (xxviii) potential litigation that may be instituted against the Company; and (xxix) other risks and uncertainties indicated in this prospectus, including those under the section titled “Risk Factors,” and other documents filed or to be filed with the SEC by the Company.
Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the assumptions made by our management prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements in deciding whether to invest in our securities.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Except to the extent required by applicable law or regulation, we undertake no obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this prospectus or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. The Company gives no assurance that it will achieve its expectations.
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SUMMARY OF THE PROSPECTUS
This summary highlights selected information from this prospectus and may not contain all of the information that is important to you in making an investment decision. Before investing in our securities, you should carefully read this entire prospectus, including our financial statements and the related notes included in this prospectus and the information set forth under the sections titled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”
Our Business
NET Power is a clean energy technology company that has developed a novel power generation system (the “NET Power Cycle”) that produces clean, reliable and low-cost electricity from natural gas while capturing virtually all atmospheric emissions. NET Power, LLC was founded in 2010 and since inception, has methodically progressed the technology from a theoretical concept to reality. The NET Power Cycle is designed to inherently capture carbon dioxide (CO2) while producing no air pollutants such as sulfur oxides (SOX), nitrogen oxides (NOX) and particulates. It is nearly immune to differences in altitude, humidity and temperature and can be a net water producer rather than consumer, allowing for easier siting and operation in areas particularly impacted by climate change. It can operate as a traditional baseload power plant, providing reliable electricity to the grid at capacity factors targeted to be above 90%. It can also complement intermittent renewables, providing zero-emission dispatchable electricity that can be programmed on demand at the request of power grid operators and according to market needs, while demonstrating substantial improvements in efficiency, effectiveness, affordability and environmental performance as compared to existing carbon capture technologies for power generation and industry. It leverages existing infrastructure and avoids issues of generation capacity and grid transmission overbuild created by other technologies, further reducing system-wide costs incurred in transitioning to net zero.
The NET Power Cycle is designed to achieve clean, reliable and low-cost electricity generation through NET Power’s patented highly recuperative oxy-combustion process. This process involves the combination of two technologies:
• Oxy-combustion, a clean heat generation process in which fuel is mixed with oxygen such that the resulting byproducts from combustion consist of only water and pure CO2; and
• Supercritical CO2 power cycle, a closed or semi-closed loop process which replaces the air or steam used in most power cycles with recirculating CO2 at high pressure, as sCO2, producing power by expanding sCO2 continuously through a turbo expander.
In the NET Power Cycle, CO2 produced in oxy-combustion is immediately captured in a sCO2 cycle which produces electricity. As CO2 is added through oxy-combustion and recirculated, excess captured CO2 is siphoned from the cycle at high purity for export to permanent storage or utilization.
The NET Power Cycle was first demonstrated at the Company’s 50 MWth demonstration facility in La Porte, Texas which broke ground in 2016 and began testing in 2018. The Company conducted three testing campaigns over three years and synchronized to the Texas grid in the fall of 2021. Through these tests, it achieved technology validation, reached critical operational milestones and accumulated over 1,500 hours of total facility runtime as of October 2022.
NET Power plans to license its technology through offering plant designs ranging from industrial-scale configurations between 25-115 MW net electric output to utility-scale units of between approximately 115-300 MW net electric output capacity. This technology is supported by a portfolio of 380 issued patents in-licensed on an exclusive basis (in the applicable field) from 8 Rivers, as well as significant know-how and trade secrets generated through experience at the La Porte, Texas demonstration facility. NET Power’s first generation utility-scale design (“Gen1U”) will be a 300 MWe Class power plant, targeting a CO2 capture rate of 97% or greater. Early Gen1U deployments are focused on ensuring a clean and reliable system. Based on the Company’s work to date, NET Power expects these early projects to target a net efficiency of approximately 45%. Incorporating the lessons learned from early plants’ operations, NET Power targets to deliver later Gen1U plants with net efficiency of approximately 50%. NET Power expects that later facilities adopting its second-generation utility-scale design (“Gen2U”) will benefit from net efficiencies targeting 60% and lower costs. Gen2U will have higher operating temperatures and heat exchanger effectiveness, similar to the conditions present at the La Porte demonstration facility, and higher efficiency
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key balance of plant turbomachinery such as compressors and pumps. The Gen2U assumptions provide the technical and economic basis for the substantial majority of expected future NET Power deployments. With multiple Gen1U projects currently in development, NET Power expects the first utility-scale plant utilizing the NET Power Cycle will be commissioned and operational in 2026. NET Power intends to deploy its technology in the United States and around the world; leveraging experience gained from the La Porte, Texas demonstration facility as well as from the expertise of NET Power’s current owners, including OXY, BHES and 8 Rivers (through NPEH).
NET Power’s potential customers include electric utilities, oil and gas companies, midstream oil and gas companies, technology companies and industrial facilities, both in domestic and international markets. NET Power has engaged in active dialogue with potential customers in each of these industries. NET Power’s end-markets can be broken down into three general categories: baseload generation, dispatchable generation and industrial applications. Baseload generation includes replacing emitting fossil fuel-fired facilities (brownfield) or installing new clean baseload capacity (greenfield). Many customers need to balance the intermittency of renewable generation and, NET Power believes, will seek its technology’s dispatchable capability to pair with significant renewable capacity build outs. Industrial customers such as direct air capture facilities, steel facilities, chemical plants and hydrogen production facilities have significant 24-hour energy needs and goals to decarbonize. NET Power’s technology can provide the necessary clean, reliable, low-cost electricity and heat energy to these facilities as well.
Key benefits for customers include the following:
• Clean: The NET Power Cycle will result in an average Carbon Intensity (“CI”) of 58g CO2e/kWh and can capture CO2 at >97% rate, providing for 87% CO2 emissions reduction in comparison to combined cycle gas turbine technology. CO2 is inherently captured at pipeline pressure and ready for transportation. There are no NOx, SOx or particulate emissions to atmosphere that plague traditional coal or natural gas fossil fuel generation allowing for project siting near population centers. NET Power expects efforts to reduce upstream methane emissions will further reduce the NET Power Cycle CI.
• Reliable: The NET Power Cycle can provide 24/7 baseload power, with a targeted capacity factor of 92.5%, power ramp rates of 10% to 15% per minute and 0% to 100% load following capabilities. It can function as a utility-scale large plant or seamlessly pair as a load-following asset to support variable renewable energy.
• Low-cost: NET Power’s targeted Gen2U levelized cost of energy of $21-$40 $/MWh in the U.S. is lower than both legacy firm generation technology like combined cycle gas turbine and intermittent technologies such as solar photovoltaics (“PVs”) coupled with four hours or more of battery storage. Gen1U levelized cost of energy is expected between $26-$55 $/MWh.
• Utilizes existing infrastructure: The United States alone has over 3 million miles of natural gas pipeline infrastructure, with over 270,000 miles of high-strength steel pipe suitable for high-capacity natural gas transmission. Approximately 50 individual CO2 pipelines with a combined length of over 4,500 miles exist in the U.S. today. According to the Energy Information Administration (the “EIA”), there further exists hundreds of thermal power generation facilities at or nearing their retirement or replacement period through 2050, which NET Power believes could serve as potential brownfield site locations. For example, 27% of the 56 GW of coal-fired capacity currently operating in the U.S. have plans to retire by the end of 2029. Their transmission interconnections and auxiliary systems can be repurposed with minimal changes to serve NET Power’s facilities. With the addition of CO2 infrastructure, NET Power can fit within the existing grid network with low incremental cost.
• Compact footprint: NET Power’s modular design and the inherent energy density of sCO2 as a working fluid leads to a low surface footprint of approximately 13 acres, equal to 1/100th that of solar PV of a similar electric output. This footprint is smaller than existing unabated combined cycle facilities of similar capacity, allowing NET Power to serve as a re-powering option for retiring facilities or facilities that cannot secure additional space for capture equipment.
NET Power believes that the NET Power Cycle can serve as a key enabling platform for a low-carbon future, addressing shortfalls inherent to alternative options while contributing to an overall lower system-wide cost of decarbonization. NET Power believes that through its innovative process, it can provide a lower cost of electricity, reduction and in some cases elimination of environmental impacts related to thermal power use (air pollution, water
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use, land use and deforestation), reliability and dispatchability contributing to energy security and lower costs, as well as an ability to achieve required carbon reduction targets. NET Power believes the build-out of the NET Power Cycle will provide the world with clean, reliable and low-cost energy.
The Business Combination
On June 6, 2023, the Business Combination was approved by the shareholders of RONI, and on June 8, 2023, RONI consummated the Merger pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement.
Immediately prior to the consummation of the Merger, on June 8, 2023, as contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement, RONI became a Delaware corporation named “NET Power Inc.,” and (i) each issued and outstanding Class A Share was automatically converted, on a one-for-one basis, into a share of Class A Common Stock of NET Power Inc., (ii) each issued and outstanding Class B Share was automatically converted, on a one-for-one basis, into a share of Class B Common Stock of NET Power Inc., and (iii) each issued and outstanding warrant of RONI (which was exercisable for a Class A Share) automatically converted into a warrant to purchase one share of Class A Common Stock of NET Power Inc. Immediately following the Domestication, RONI Opco became a Delaware limited liability company and was renamed NET Power Operations LLC.
Following the Domestications, on June 8, 2023, pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, Merger Sub merged with and into Old NET Power, with Old NET Power surviving the Merger as a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of Buyer. At the Effective Time, all of the equity interests of Old NET Power issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Merger (other than any such equity interests held in the treasury of Old NET Power or owned by any subsidiary of Old NET Power immediately prior to the Effective Time) were canceled and converted into the right to receive an aggregate of 137,192,563 Opco Units and an equivalent number of shares of Class B Common Stock. The Opco LLC Agreement provides each member of Opco (other than the Company) the right to cause the Company to cause Opco to redeem all or a portion of such member’s Class A units of Opco in exchange for an equal number of shares of Class A Common Stock or, at the Company’s election under certain circumstances set forth therein, cash, in each case, subject to certain restrictions set forth therein. Upon redemption of any Opco Units, an equal number of shares of Class B Common Stock held by the redeeming member of Opco shall be canceled.
Summary Risk Factors
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those highlighted in the section titled “Risk Factors,” that represent challenges that we face in connection with the successful implementation of our strategy and the growth of our business. In particular, the following risks, among others, may offset our competitive strengths or have a negative effect on our business strategy, which could cause a decline in the price of the Class A Common Stock or Warrants and result in a loss of all or a portion of your investment:
• Old NET Power has incurred significant losses since inception, and we anticipate that we will continue to incur losses in the future, and we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability.
• We may be unable to manage our future growth effectively.
• We face significant barriers in our attempts to deploy our technology and may not be able to successfully develop our technology.
• The technology we are developing will rely on complex machinery for its operation, and deployment involves a significant degree of risk and uncertainty in terms of operational performance and costs.
• Our deployment plans rely on the development and supply of turbomachinery and process equipment by NPI pursuant to a joint development agreement.
• Our commercialization strategy relies heavily on our relationship with Baker Hughes, Occidental Petroleum Corporation (“Occidental”) and other strategic investors and partners, who may have interests that diverge from ours and who may not be easily replaced if our relationships terminate.
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• Our partners have not yet completed development of, and finalized schedules for, delivery of key process equipment to customers, and any setbacks we may experience during our first commercial delivery planned for 2026 and other demonstration and commercial missions could have material adverse effects on our business, financial condition and results of operations and could harm our reputation.
• Manufacturing and transportation of key equipment may be dependent on open global supply chains.
• Manufacturing and construction issues not identified prior to design finalization, long-lead procurement and/or module fabrication could potentially be realized during production, fabrication or construction and may impact plant deployment cost and schedule.
• Our test facility has not yet overcome all power loads to provide net positive power delivery to the commercial grid during its operation.
• We may encounter difficulty in attracting licensees prior to the deployment of an initial full-scale commercial plant.
• We expect a consortium led by NET Power to undertake the first commercial plant deployment to establish our technology. Such a deployment will require significant capital expenditure.
• Our future growth and success depend on our ability to license to customers and their ability to secure suitable sites. We have not yet entered into a binding contract with a customer to license the NET Power Cycle, and we may not be able to do so.
• Conflicts of interest may arise because several directors on the Board are designated by the Principal Legacy NET Power Holders and Sponsor.
• The energy market continues to evolve and is highly competitive. The development and adoption of competing technology could materially and adversely affect our ability to license our technology.
• The market for power plants implementing the NET Power Cycle is not yet established and may not achieve the growth potential we expect and may grow more slowly than we expect.
• There is limited infrastructure to efficiently transport and store carbon dioxide, which may limit deployment of the NET Power Cycle.
• The cost of electricity generated from NET Power Cycle may not be cost competitive with other electricity generation sources in some markets.
• Our business relies on the deployment of power plants that are subject to a wide variety of extensive and evolving government laws and regulations, including environmental laws and regulations.
• We and our potential licensees may encounter substantial delays in the design, manufacture, regulatory approval and launch of power plants. Regulatory approvals and permits may also be denied.
• Any potential changes or reductions in available government incentives promoting greenhouse gas emissions projects, such as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022’s financial assistance program funding installation of zero-emission technology, may adversely affect our ability to grow our business.
• We are developing NET Power-owned intellectual property, but we rely heavily on the intellectual property we have in-licensed and which is core to the NET Power Cycle. The ability to protect these patents, patent applications and other proprietary rights may be challenged or may be faced with our inability or failure to obtain, maintain, protect, defend and enforce.
• We may lose our rights to some or all of the core intellectual property that is in-licensed by way of either the licensor not paying renewal fees or maintenance fees, or by way of third parties challenging the validity of the intellectual property, thereby resulting in competitors easily entering into the same market and decreasing the revenue that we receive from our customers.
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• Our patent applications may not result in issued patents and our patent rights may be contested, circumvented, invalidated or limited in scope, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our ability to prevent others from interfering with commercialization of our technology.
• The trading price of the Class A Common Stock and Warrants may be volatile.
• Concentration of ownership among the Principal Legacy NET Power Holders may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.
• We will incur significant increased costs to implement an effective system of internal controls as a result of operating as a public company as compared to Old NET Power, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to public company compliance initiatives.
• Pursuant to the Tax Receivable Agreement, NET Power will be required to pay to certain Opco Unitholders 75% of the tax savings that NET Power realizes as a result of increases in tax basis in Opco’s assets resulting from the future exchange of Opco Units for shares of Class A Common Stock (or cash) pursuant to the Opco LLC Agreement, as well as certain other tax benefits, including tax benefits attributable to payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement, and those payments may be substantial. In certain cases, payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement may exceed the actual tax benefits we realize or may be accelerated.
• We are a holding company and our only material asset is our interest in Opco, and we are accordingly dependent upon distributions made by Opco and its subsidiaries to pay taxes, make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement and pay dividends (it being understood that we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on the Class A Common Stock in the foreseeable future).
Corporate Information
On June 8, 2023, we completed the Business Combination, pursuant to which we were renamed “NET Power Inc.” As of the open of trading on June 9, 2023, the Class A Common Stock and Public Warrants of NET Power, formerly those of RONI, began trading on the NYSE as “NPWR” and “NPWR WS,” respectively.
Our principal executive offices are located at 404 Hunt Street, Suite 410, Durham, North Carolina, and our telephone number at that location is (919) 287-4750. Our website address is https://www.ir.netpower.com. Information contained on our website is not a part of this prospectus, and the inclusion of our website address in this prospectus is an inactive textual reference only.
Emerging Growth Company and Smaller Reporting Company
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards). The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or
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revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with certain other public companies difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (i) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the IPO, which occurred on June 18, 2021, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.235 billion or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common equity that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter, and (ii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (i) the market value of our common equity held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the last business day of the most recently completed second fiscal quarter or (ii) the market value of our common equity held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last business day of the most recently completed second fiscal quarter and our annual revenue in the most recent fiscal year completed before the last business day of such second fiscal quarter exceeded $100 million. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
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THE OFFERING
We are registering the resale by the Selling Securityholders of (i) up to 201,480,913 shares of Class A Common Stock (which includes up to 10,900,000 shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants and 136,533,418 shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon redemption of the Opco Units) and (ii) up to 10,900,000 Private Placement Warrants. The shares of Class A Common Stock and the Private Placement Warrants that may be sold by the Selling Securityholders are collectively referred to in this prospectus as the “Offered Securities.”
Any investment in the Offered Securities is speculative and involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the information set forth under the section titled “Risk Factors” in this prospectus.
Shares of Class A Common Stock offered by the Selling Securityholders |
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Warrants offered by the Selling Securityholders |
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Use of proceeds |
We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the Class A Common Stock and Private Placement Warrants to be offered by the Selling Securityholders. With respect to shares of Class A Common Stock underlying the Private Placement Warrants, we will not receive any proceeds from such shares except with respect to amounts received by us upon exercise of such Private Placement Warrants to the extent such Private Placement Warrants are exercised for cash. |
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Lock-up agreements |
Certain of our stockholders are subject to certain restrictions on transfer until the termination of applicable lock-up periods. See “Securities Act Restrictions on Resale of Securities — Lock-up Agreements” for further discussion. |
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NYSE ticker symbols |
“NPWR” and “NPWR WS” for the Class A Common Stock and Public Warrants, respectively. |
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RISK FACTORS
Investing in our securities involves risks. Before you make a decision to buy our securities, in addition to the risks and uncertainties discussed above under “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” you should carefully consider the specific risks set forth herein. If any of these risks actually occur, it may materially harm our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations. As a result, the market price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Additionally, the risks and uncertainties described in this prospectus, any prospectus supplement or in any document incorporated by reference herein or therein are not the only risks and uncertainties that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may become material and adversely affect our business.
Risks Related to Our Business and Our Industry
Old NET Power has incurred significant losses since inception, we anticipate that we will continue to incur losses in the future, and we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability.
Old NET Power has historically incurred significant losses and experienced negative cash flows since inception, including net losses of $50.0 million and $38.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. We have not generated any material revenue, but we have substantial overhead expenses. We do not expect to generate meaningful revenue unless and until we are able to complete our first commercial plant deployment and begin licensing the NET Power Cycle and we may not be able to accomplish either of these milestones on our anticipated timetable, if at all. We have not yet commercialized the NET Power Cycle and may never do so successfully, and, as a result, it is difficult for us to predict our future operating results. Our losses may be larger than anticipated, and we may not achieve profitability according to our expected timeline or at all; even if we do, we may not be able to maintain or increase profitability.
We expect our operating expenses to increase over the next several years as we begin to commercialize the NET Power Cycle, continue to refine and streamline our technology, make technical improvements, hire additional employees and continue research and development efforts relating to new products and technologies. These efforts may be more costly than we expect and may not result in increased revenue, profits or growth in our business. Any failure to increase our revenue sufficiently to keep pace with our expenses could prevent us from achieving or maintaining profitability or positive cash flow. Furthermore, if our future growth and operating performance fail to meet investor or analyst expectations, or if we have future negative cash flow or losses resulting from our investment in acquiring customers or expanding our operations, this could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
We may be unable to manage our future growth effectively, and such inability could make it difficult to execute our business strategy.
If our operations grow as planned, we may need to expand our sales and marketing, research and development and supply and manufacturing functions, and there is no guarantee that we will be able to scale the business and the sale of licenses as planned. We have relied heavily on key partnerships to date, and there is no guarantee that we will be able to maintain these relationships or find additional suitable partners in the future, and as such we may have difficulty commercializing our technology or broadening our internal capabilities.
Any failure to effectively incorporate updates to the design, construction and operations of power plants using the NET Power Cycle to ensure cost competitiveness could reduce the marketability of the NET Power Cycle and has the potential to impact deployment schedules. Updating the design, construction and operations of such power plants will be necessary to ensure their competitiveness and attractiveness in the market, particularly in the United States, where the price of power is generally lower than in other countries. If we are not able to achieve and maintain cost competitiveness in the United States or elsewhere, our business could be materially and adversely affected.
Our continued growth could increase the strain on our resources, and we could experience operating difficulties, including difficulties in hiring, training and managing an increasing number of employees and delays in production and launches. These difficulties may result in the erosion of our brand image, divert the attention of management and key employees and impact financial and operational results. If we are unable to drive
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commensurate growth, these costs, which include lease commitments, headcount and capital assets, could result in decreased margins, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We face significant barriers in our attempts to deploy our technology and may not be able to successfully develop our technology. If we cannot successfully overcome those barriers, it could adversely impact our business and operations.
The technology behind the NET Power Cycle is very complex, and, while we successfully achieved grid synchronization with our test facility, we have not yet built any commercial facilities and may face significant barriers in continuing to operate our test facility, developing and commercializing Serial Number 1 and developing and commercializing subsequent facilities. The NET Power Cycle has yet to be integrated with a combustion system and turbine operating coincidentally at target temperature and pressure. We are reliant on NPI to successfully deliver a turbo expander that can meet these conditions to support commercial initiatives. Furthermore, project execution risks associated with deployment of a nascent technology include, but are not limited to, supply chain management, schedule compliance, general engineering, procurement, and construction (“EPC”) competence, commissioning and startup tuning. If we are unable to successfully develop our technology, this would materially adversely affect our business and we may be forced to cease operations.
The technology we are developing will rely on complex machinery for its operation, and deployment involves a significant degree of risk and uncertainty in terms of operational performance and costs.
The NET Power Cycle relies heavily on complex machinery and involves a significant degree of uncertainty and risk in terms of operational performance and costs. Our test facility consists, and our future NET Power plants are expected to consist, of large-scale machinery combining many components. These manufacturing plant components are likely to suffer unexpected malfunctions from time to time and will depend on repairs and spare parts to resume operations, and such repairs and spare parts may not be available when needed. If there are delays in the development and manufacturing of our technology by our partners or third-party suppliers, it may adversely impact our business and financial condition.
Unexpected malfunctions of the plant components may significantly affect our intended operational efficiency. Operational performance and costs can be difficult to predict and are often influenced by factors outside of our control, such as, but not limited to, scarcity of natural resources, supply chain issues, environmental hazards and remediation, costs associated with decommissioning of machines, labor disputes and strikes, difficulty or delays in obtaining governmental permits, damages or defects in electronic systems, industrial accidents, pandemics, war, fire, seismic activity and natural disasters. Should operational risks materialize, it may result in the personal injury to or death of workers, the loss of production equipment, damage to manufacturing facilities, monetary losses, delays and unanticipated fluctuations in production, environmental damage, administrative fines, increased insurance costs and potential legal liabilities, all which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows, financial condition or prospects.
If we, our partners or our third-party suppliers experience any delays in the development and manufacturing of turbo expanders, heat exchangers and other implementing technology, our business and financial condition may be adversely impacted.
We have previously experienced, and it is possible that we may experience in the future, delays and other complications from our partners and third-party suppliers in the development and manufacturing of turbo expanders, heat exchangers and other implementing technology required for deploying the NET Power Cycle. We have in the past faced a number of delays relating to the NET Power Cycle; for example, we had to obtain a redesigned rotor following synchronization, our recuperative heat exchanger train underwent modifications to meet welding specifications necessary for improved strength associated with nickel material portions and we changed sealing materials compatible with the plant process chemistry for the remaining balance of the plant associated with compressors and pumps. Any disruption or delay in the development or supply of such components and technology could result in the delay or other complication in the design, manufacture, production and delivery of our technology that could prevent us from commercializing the NET Power Cycle according to our planned timeline and scale. If
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delays like this recur, if our remediation measures and process changes do not continue to be successful or if we experience issues with planned manufacturing activities, supply of components from third parties or design and safety, we could experience issues or delays in commencing or sustaining our commercial operations.
If we encounter difficulties in scaling our production and delivery capabilities, if we fail to develop and successfully commercialize our technologies, if we fail to develop such technologies before our competitors or if such technologies fail to perform as expected, are inferior to those of our competitors or are perceived as less safe than those of our competitors, our business, reputation and financial condition could be materially and adversely impacted.
We, our licensees or our partners may not be able to establish supply relationships for necessary components or may be required to pay costs for components that are higher than anticipated, and such inability or increased costs could delay the deployment of our technology and negatively impact our business.
We, our licensees and our partners rely on third-party suppliers for components and materials used to develop, and eventually commercialize, the NET Power Cycle. Any disruption or delay in the supply of components or materials by our key third-party suppliers or pricing volatility of such components or materials could temporarily disrupt production of our components or materials until an alternative supplier is able to supply the required material. In such circumstances, we may experience prolonged delays, which may materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
We may not be able to control fluctuation in the prices for these materials or negotiate agreements with suppliers on terms that are beneficial to us. Our business depends on the continued supply to us and to our licensees of certain proprietary materials. We are exposed to multiple risks relating to the availability and pricing of such materials and components. Substantial increases in the prices for our raw materials or components would increase our operating costs and the operating costs of our licensees, either of which could materially impact our financial condition.
Currency fluctuations, inflation, trade barriers, extreme weather, pandemics, war, tariffs or shortages and other general economic or political conditions may limit our ability or our licensees’ ability to obtain key components or significantly increase freight charges, raw material costs and other expenses associated with our business and our licensees’ business, and such increased costs could materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and prospects.
Our deployment plans rely on the development and supply of turbomachinery and process equipment by NPI pursuant to a joint development agreement. We and NPI may not be able to commercialize technology developed under our joint development relationship. If NPI fails to commercialize such equipment, or such equipment fails to perform as expected, our ability to develop, market and license our technology could be harmed.
In February 2022, we entered into a strategic exclusive partnership with NPI pursuant to the Original JDA, which was amended and restated by the Amended and Restated JDA on December 13, 2022, pursuant to which NPI is developing sCO2 turbo expanders for use in facilities implementing the NET Power Cycle. These turbo expanders are intended to be compatible with our existing technology, and as such, they are highly specialized and difficult to design. We expect these turbo expanders, as well as other critical technology such as our heat exchangers, to be vital to the success of Serial Number 1, other future commercial-scale facilities and our licensing operations, and as such, any delay in their development or manufacture would likely adversely impact our business and financial condition.
There can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain or further our relationship with NPI and/or that NPI will be successful in developing a turbo expander that successfully integrates with our other technology. Our relationship with NPI is subject to various risks that could adversely affect the value of our investments and our results of operations. These risks include the following:
• our interests may diverge from those of NPI, or we may not be able to agree with them on ongoing development, manufacturing and operational activities, or on the amount, timing or nature of further investments in our joint development;
• our control over NPI’s operations is limited;
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• the terms of our arrangement under the Amended and Restated JDA with NPI may turn out to be unfavorable to us;
• provisions of the joint development agreement could give rise to disputes regarding the rights and obligations of the parties, potentially leading to termination of the agreement, delays in development or commercialization of the turbo expander, or litigation or arbitration; or
• changes in tax, legal or regulatory requirements may necessitate changes to our arrangement under the joint development agreement.
If our strategic relationship with NPI is ultimately unsuccessful or less successful than anticipated, our business, results of operations or financial condition may be materially adversely affected. Any such lack of success could also reduce our ability to secure collaboration agreements in the future or impair our relationships with other existing collaborators.
Our commercialization strategy relies heavily on our relationship with Baker Hughes, Occidental and other strategic investors and partners, who may have interests that diverge from ours and who may not be easily replaced if our relationships terminate, and any such divergent interests or inability to replace could adversely impact our business and financial condition.
We are, and for a period of time will be, substantially reliant on our relationship with Baker Hughes, Occidental and other strategic investors and strategic partners to develop and commercialize the NET Power Cycle. We are also reliant on our license agreement with 8 Rivers for the in-license of the core technology of the NET Power Cycle. For a fulsome discussion of such partnerships, see the section titled “Business — Partnerships.” Our strategic partners may have interests that diverge from our interests, and that may hinder our ability to license our technology to customers. If we lose our agreements with strategic partners, we may need to find new contractors who may have less experience designing and building power plants and complex machinery. We may also need to locate alternative sources of intellectual property rights enabling us to carry out our operations and to avoid infringing previously licensed intellectual property, and we may be unsuccessful in securing such new licenses or unsuccessful in finding suitable alternatives that would not infringe previously licensed intellectual property. The loss of any such relationships, if not adequately replaced, could substantially hinder or prevent our ability to commercialize our technology and adversely affect our business, financial condition and future prospects.
Our partners have not yet completed development of and finalized schedules for delivery of key process equipment to customers, and any setbacks we may experience during our first commercial delivery planned for 2026 and other demonstration and commercial missions could have material adverse effects on our business, financial condition and results of operations and could harm our reputation.
The success of our business will depend on our ability to successfully license our technology to customers on-time and on-budget at guaranteed performance levels, and such success would tend to establish greater confidence in our subsequent customers. Our partners have not yet completed development of and finalized schedules for delivery of key process equipment, including turbo expanders, sCO2 combustors, primary recuperative heat exchangers, air separation units and other long-lead items and lessons learned integrated products, to customers. There is no guarantee that our planned commercialization efforts will be successful. There can be no assurance that we will not experience operational or process failures and other problems during our first commercial deployments. Any failures or setbacks, particularly on our first commercial ventures, could harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
Any actual or perceived safety or reliability issues may result in significant reputational harm to our businesses, in addition to tort liability and other costs that may arise. Such issues could result in delaying or cancelling planned licenses, increased regulation or other systemic consequences. Our inability to meet our safety standards or adverse publicity affecting our reputation as a result of accidents or mechanical failures could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
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Lack of availability or increased costs of component raw materials may affect manufacturing processes for plant equipment and increase our overall costs or those of our licensees.
Recent global supply chain disruptions have increasingly affected both the availability and cost of raw materials, component manufacturing and deliveries. While these disruptions have not affected our business in a materially adverse way yet, such disruptions may, in the future, result in delays in equipment deliveries and cost escalations that could adversely affect our business.
Our processes are reliant on certain supply, including natural gas, and the profitability of our processes will be dependent on the price of such supply. The increased cost of natural gas and other raw materials, in isolation or relative to other energy sources, may adversely affect the potential profitability and cost effectiveness of our processes.
We intend to license the NET Power Cycle for the generation of electrical power using natural gas. Accordingly, the prices we eventually receive for our licenses will likely be tied to the prevailing market prices of natural gas. Historically, the price of natural gas has been volatile, and this volatility may continue to increase in the future. Factors that may cause volatility in the prices of natural gas include, among others, (i) changes in supply and availability of natural gas; (ii) governmental regulations; (iii) inventory levels; (iv) consumer demand; (v) price and availability of alternatives; (vi) weather conditions; (vii) negative publicity about natural gas; (viii) production or transportation techniques and methods; (ix) macro-economic environment and political conditions, including the conflict between Ukraine and Russia; (x) transportation costs and (xi) the price of foreign imports. We expect that natural gas prices will remain volatile for the near future because of these and other factors. High natural gas prices in isolation or relative to other energy sources are likely to adversely affect the demand for the NET Power Cycle and our potential profitability and cost effectiveness. The prices we receive for our licenses depend on numerous factors beyond our control, including, but not limited to, the following:
• changes in global supply of, and demand for, natural gas;
• worldwide and regional economic conditions impacting the global supply and demand for natural gas;
• social unrest, political instability or armed conflict in major natural gas producing regions outside the United States, such as the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, and acts of terrorism or sabotage;
• the ability and willingness of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers (known as OPEC+) to agree and maintain oil price and production controls;
• the price and quantity of imports of foreign natural gas;
• governmental, scientific, and public concern over the threat of climate change arising from greenhouse gas emissions;
• the level of global natural gas exploration and production;
• the level of global natural gas inventories;
• localized supply and demand fundamentals of regional, domestic and international transportation availability;
• weather conditions, natural disasters and seasonal trends;
• domestic and foreign governmental regulations, including embargoes, sanctions, tariffs and environmental regulations;
• speculation as to the future price of natural gas and the speculative trading of natural gas futures contracts;
• technological advances affecting energy consumption;
• increasing attention to environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) matters; and
• the price, availability and use of alternative fuels and energy sources.
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While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its contribution to the volatility in the price of natural gas could impact demand for the NET Power Cycle, we have not yet been affected by such volatility in a materially adverse manner.
Manufacturing and transportation of key equipment may be dependent on open global supply chains. Supply chain issues could negatively impact deployment schedules.
Our customers and the projects they develop will be reliant on equipment supplied by a core group of key global suppliers, generally including, but not limited to, air separation units, heat exchangers, control systems, piping, valves, fabricated modules and rotating turbomachinery. Recent global supply chain disruptions have increasingly affected both the availability and cost of raw materials, component manufacturing and deliveries. These disruptions may result in delays in equipment deliveries and cost escalations that could adversely affect our business. While we expect to take steps to minimize the impact of these increased costs by working closely with our suppliers and customers, global supply chain disruption may deteriorate and such disruption compounded by increasing inflation could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Moreover, any material disruption in the supply chain could delay our commercialization efforts, potentially causing us to delay the launch of Serial Number 1 and of subsequent commercial plants later than expected or to begin licensing our technology later than expected.
Suppliers of key equipment to our customers may not be able to scale to the production levels necessary to meet the anticipated growth in demand for our technology, and such inability could negatively impact our business and financial plan.
We do not have manufacturing assets and our future licensees may not have manufacturing assets, and thus we rely, and our future licensees may rely, on third-party manufacturers to build licensed power plants and associated equipment. Moreover, we and our licensees are dependent on future supplier capability to meet production demands attendant to our forecasts. If suppliers of key equipment to our customers cannot meet the level of supply and schedule demands of such customers after we achieve commercialization, our revenues could be materially impacted, which would impact our operations and profitability.
Manufacturing and construction issues not identified prior to design finalization, long-lead procurement and/or module fabrication could potentially be realized during production, fabrication or construction and may impact plant deployment cost and schedule, and such impact could adversely impact our business.
The NET Power Cycle design will be actively managed through design reviews, prototyping, involvement of external partners and application of industry lessons, but we could still fail to identify latent manufacturing and construction issues early enough to avoid negative effects on production, fabrication, construction or ultimate performance of our technology, licenses or plants. Where these issues arise at such later stages of deployment, plant deployment could be subject to greater costs or be significantly delayed, and such delay could materially and adversely affect our business.
Our La Porte, Texas test facility and future facilities and operations could be damaged or otherwise adversely affected as a result of natural disasters and other catastrophic events, and such adverse effects would negatively impact our ability to develop key process equipment and technologies within our anticipated timeline and budget.
Natural disasters or other catastrophic events may cause damage or disruption to our operations and the global economy and, thus, could have a strong negative effect on us. Our business operations are subject to interruption by natural disasters, fire, power shortages, civil unrest, war, pandemics, acts of terrorism and other events beyond our control. While we maintain crisis management and disaster response plans, natural disasters and other events could also make it difficult or impossible for us to continue operations and could decrease demand for our platform.
In addition, our test facility is located in La Porte, Texas, which is prone to natural disasters, such as severe weather, making our business particularly susceptible to natural disasters and other catastrophic events in those areas. Our test facility and future facilities could be harmed or rendered inoperable, or our other assets could be damaged or destroyed, by natural or manmade disasters, including severe weather, flooding, power outages, earthquakes and contamination, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and such damage or destruction may render it difficult or impossible for us to operate our business for some period of time. The inability to
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operate our test facility — for even a short period of time — may harm our reputation and result in a delay in our commercialization schedule, and such reputational harm or delay would have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.
If we cannot extend the lease for our La Porte, Texas test facility, which is currently set to expire in 2025, then we may need to remove, rebuild and relocate our equipment to a suitable facility elsewhere and resume development activities thereafter, which could represent a significant expense to us and have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
We lease the land where our demonstration facility in La Porte, Texas is located from Air Liquide Large Industries U.S. LP (“Air Liquide”) under a lease that is set to expire on July 1, 2025. The NET Power Cycle was first demonstrated at our La Porte, Texas demonstration facility, and we continue to conduct development activities at this site, which are expected to continue beyond July 1, 2025. If we are unable to renew the lease for our La Porte, Texas facility with Air Liquide on acceptable terms or at all, then we may need to relocate an alternate facility that meets the specifications required for our demonstration facility and rebuild our demonstration facility at such suitable facility. During this time, we may also be required to discontinue our development activities ongoing at the La Porte, Texas facility. Furthermore, the costs of rebuilding and relocating the facility could be significant, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
Our test facility has not yet overcome all power loads to provide net positive power delivery to the commercial grid during its operation. If initial commercial plants using the NET Power Cycle are unable to efficiently provide a net power output to the commercial grid, it will negatively impact our business.
Our test facility in La Porte, Texas successfully generated electric power while synchronized to the grid, but it has not yet overcome all facility auxiliary power loads (pumps, compressors, etc.) to provide net positive power delivery to the commercial grid during its operation. If initial commercial power plants are unable to efficiently provide net power output to the commercial grid using the NET Power Cycle, this could harm our business, results of operation and reputation.
We may encounter difficulty in attracting licensees prior to the deployment of an initial full-scale commercial plant. If we cannot successfully overcome the barriers to deploying a first full-scale plant, our business will be negatively impacted and could fail.
Until we have completed the deployment of Serial Number 1 and, potentially, until we have completed deployment of one or more additional commercial plants, we may encounter difficulty attracting licensees. We expect revenues from licensing the NET Power Cycle to be vital to reaching and sustaining profitability, but until potential customers have seen a plant successfully implement the NET Power Cycle, they may decide to wait to purchase a license or forgo purchasing a license altogether. There is no guarantee that we will be able to attract any licensees in our desired price range, or at all prior to our initial deployment; that our initial deployment efforts will be timely or successful or that they will be timely or successful enough to attract licensees. If we cannot attract licensees and earn licensing revenue, we may experience delays in our commercial plant deployments and may otherwise suffer harm to our business, results of operations and reputation.
We expect a consortium led by NET Power to undertake the first commercial plant deployment to establish our technology. Such a deployment will require significant capital expenditure, and, depending on availability of capital, including grants, could require substantial capital investment from us and our partners. If we cannot establish a first commercial-scale plant, our business could fail.
Our ability to find third parties willing to partner with us to launch Serial Number 1 is vital to our future success. This deployment is expected to be very expensive, require significant capital, which may include grants, and be time-consuming, and, if we cannot find suitable third parties to partner with us, we may not be able to launch Serial Number 1. We may seek Department of Energy (“DOE”) Loan Program Office (“LPO”) Title XVII project funding, have submitted a Title XVII Part I LPO application in support of such funding, and have been invited to submit a Part II application; however, the DOE advises that an invitation to submit a Part II application is not an assurance that DOE will invite the Company into the due diligence and term sheet negotiation process, that DOE will offer a term sheet to the Company or that the terms and conditions of a loan guarantee will be consistent with terms proposed by the Company. The foregoing matters are wholly dependent on the results of the DOE’s review and
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evaluation of the Part II Application, and determination whether to proceed. If we are unable to bring Serial Number 1 to market, or to launch other commercial plant deployments, our ability to create stockholder value will be limited, and our business could fail.
Our future growth and success depend on our ability to license to customers and their ability to secure suitable sites. We have not yet entered into a binding contract with a customer to license the NET Power Cycle, and we may not be able to do so.
The future growth of our business depends on our ability to license the NET Power Cycle and to expand our sales geographically. The NET Power Cycle has never been utilized on a full-scale commercial basis. All tests conducted to date with respect to the technology have been performed at our test facility in La Porte, Texas, and the same or similar results may not be obtainable at competitive costs on a large-scale commercial basis. It will be difficult to demonstrate the value in our technology to licensees until we have deployed a successful full-scale commercial plant, as discussed under “— We may encounter difficulty in attracting licensees prior to the deployment of an initial full-scale commercial plant. If we cannot successfully overcome the barriers to deploying a first full-scale plant, our business will be negatively impacted and could fail.” We have not yet entered into a binding contract with a customer to license the NET Power Cycle, and we may not be able to do so on acceptable terms or at all. Even if we do enter into agreements with licensees, such licensees might be unable to find suitable sites for building their own power plants. If we are unable to successfully enter into agreements with a sufficient number of licensees, it may adversely impact our business and results of operations.
We may not be able to accurately estimate the future demand for our technology, and such inability could result in a variety of inefficiencies in our business and could hinder our ability to generate revenue. If we fail to accurately predict market demand, we could incur additional costs or experience delays, adversely impacting our business and financial condition.
Our business requires us to estimate future market demand for electricity and for licenses for our technology. We may be adversely affected to the extent that we overestimate or underestimate such demand.
Our future success hinges on how many licenses for our technology we are able to sell. We have already incurred and expect to continue to incur significant expenses in connection with developing our technology, and we do not expect the amount of expenses incurred to vary significantly as we increase or decrease the number of licenses sold. As such, our profitability with respect to our licenses will likely depend entirely on the demand for such licenses, and, if we cannot sell enough licenses, the expenses incurred in connection with such licenses will be sunk costs. Thus, it is imperative that we accurately estimate the demand for such licenses. However, there is no guarantee that our current estimates, or any future estimates, will prove accurate, especially if competitors develop similar technology and compete for our target licensees or if the general landscape of the natural gas industry shifts in an unfavorable direction. If we cannot accurately estimate future demand for our licenses, our business and financial condition could be materially adversely impacted.
Our ability to market our technology depends on numerous factors beyond our control, the effect of which cannot be accurately predicted or anticipated. Some of these factors include, without limitation, the availability of domestic and foreign natural gas production, the marketing of competitive fuels, the proximity and capacity of pipelines, fluctuations in supply and demand, the availability of a ready market, the effect of U.S. federal and state regulation of production, refining, transportation and sales and general national and worldwide economic conditions.
We are highly dependent on our senior management team, key employees and other highly skilled personnel, and if we are not successful in attracting or retaining highly qualified personnel, we may not be able to successfully implement our business strategy and our ability to compete may be harmed.
Our success depends, in significant part, on continuing to attract and retain highly qualified talent, on retaining the services of our senior management team and on our ability to attract, motivate, develop and retain a sufficient number of other highly skilled personnel, including, but not limited to, engineers, manufacturing and quality assurance, finance, marketing and sales personnel. Our senior management team has extensive experience in the energy and manufacturing industries, and we believe that their depth of experience is instrumental to our continued success. The loss of any one or more members of our senior management team for any reason, including resignation
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or retirement, could impair our ability to execute our business strategy and could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition if we are unable to successfully attract and retain qualified and highly skilled replacement personnel with experience necessary to fill the applicable senior management position or positions.
Conflicts of interest may arise because several directors on the Board were designated by the Principal Legacy NET Power Holders and Sponsor.
Representatives or affiliates of OXY, Constellation, 8 Rivers and Sponsor designated director nominees for election to the Board pursuant to the Stockholders’ Agreement. See the section titled “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions — Stockholders’ Agreement” for additional details. As a result of these designation rights and the resulting relationships between the Principal Legacy NET Power Holders and Sponsor and their respective director nominees on the Board, conflicts may arise in the future with the Principal Legacy NET Power Holders and Sponsor where their independent business interests are inconsistent with the Board’s and our stockholders’ interests.
Further, disagreements or disputes with the Principal Legacy NET Power Holders and Sponsor could result in litigation, resulting in increase of expenses incurred and potentially limit the time and effort our officers and directors are able to devote to remaining aspects of our business, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
From time to time, we may be involved in legal proceedings and commercial, contractual or intellectual property disputes that, even where meritless, can be costly to defend and could have an adverse impact on our business, profitability and consolidated financial position.
From time to time, we may be involved in legal proceedings and commercial disputes. Such proceedings or disputes are typically claims that arise in the ordinary course of business, including, without limitation, commercial or contractual disputes, other disputes with customers and suppliers, intellectual property matters, environmental issues, tax matters and employment matters. There can be no assurance that such proceedings and claims, should they arise, will not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We may become subject to product liability claims, which could harm our financial condition and liquidity.
We may become subject to product liability claims, even those without merit, which could harm our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition. We face inherent risk of exposure to claims in the event our products do not perform as expected or malfunction resulting in personal injury or death. A successful product liability claim against us could require us to pay a substantial monetary award. Moreover, a product liability claim could generate substantial negative publicity about us, which would have material adverse effect on our brand, business, prospects and operating results. Any insurance coverage might not be sufficient to cover all potential product liability claims. Any lawsuit seeking significant monetary damages, either in excess of our coverage or outside of our coverage, may have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, prospects and financial condition. We may not be able to secure additional product liability insurance coverage on commercially acceptable terms or at reasonable costs when needed, particularly if we do face liability for our products and are forced to make a claim under our policy.
Despite implementing and maintaining industry standard security measures and controls, the website, systems and data we maintain may be subject to intentional disruption, other security incidents or alleged violations of laws, regulations or other obligations relating to data handling that could result in liability and adversely impact our reputation and future sales.
We and our service providers face threats from a variety of sources, including attacks on our networks and systems from numerous sources, including traditional “hackers,” sophisticated nation-state and nation-state supported actors, other sources of malicious code (such as viruses and worms) and phishing attempts. We and our service providers could be a target of cyberattacks or other malfeasance designed to impede the performance of our software and services, penetrate our network security or the security of our cloud platform or our internal systems, misappropriate proprietary information and/or cause interruptions to our services. Our software, platforms and system, and those of our service providers, may also suffer security incidents as a result of non-technical issues, including intentional or inadvertent acts or omissions by our employees or service providers. With the increase in personnel working remotely during the current COVID-19 pandemic, we and our service providers are at increased
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risk for security breaches. Due to the significant military action against Ukraine launched by Russia, the risk of such cyberattacks, malfeasance, security breaches, misappropriations and interruptions has increased. The conditions caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine could also result in disruption or other security incidents for our service providers.
We have taken and are taking steps to monitor and enhance the security of our software and services, cloud platform and other relevant systems, information technology infrastructure, networks and data. Furthermore, our board of directors schedules periodic discussions with management regarding significant risk exposures, including risks related to data privacy and cybersecurity, and assists in taking steps to mitigate the risk of cyberattacks on us. However, the unprecedented scale of remote work may require additional personnel and resources and nevertheless cannot be guaranteed to fully safeguard our software and services, our cloud platform or any systems, IT infrastructure networks or data upon which we rely. We may be targeted for cyberattacks and other security incidents. A breach in our data security or an attack against our service availability, or that of our third-party service providers, could impact our networks or networks secured by our software and services, creating system disruptions or slowdowns and exploiting security vulnerabilities of our software and services, and the information stored on our networks or those of our third-party service providers could be accessed, publicly disclosed, altered, lost or stolen, possibly subjecting us to liability and causing us financial harm. If an actual or perceived disruption in the availability of our software and services or a breach of our security measures or those of our service providers occurs, it could adversely affect the market perception of our software and services, result in a loss of competitive advantage, have a negative impact on our reputation, result in the loss of customers, channel partners and sales and expose us to the loss or alteration of information, to litigation, to regulatory actions and investigations and to possible liability. Any such actual or perceived security breach, attack or disruption could also divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel. We also may incur significant costs and operational consequences of investigating, remediating, eliminating and putting in place additional tools and devices designed to prevent actual or perceived security incidents, as well as the costs to comply with any notification obligations resulting from any security incidents. In addition, any such actual or perceived security breach could impair our ability to operate our business and to provide software and services to our customers. If this happens, our reputation could be harmed, our revenues could decline and our business could suffer.
Our insurance coverage may not be adequate to protect from all business risks, adversely impacting our business and financial condition.
Our insurance policies are subject to exclusions, deductibles and limitations. There can be no assurance that any claim under our insurance policies will be honored fully or in a timely manner, that our insurance coverage will be sufficient in any respect or that our insurance premiums will not change substantially. Although we carry property insurance for our business operations, our coverage might not be adequate to compensate us for all losses that may occur. Accordingly, to the extent that we suffer loss or damage that is not covered by insurance or that exceeds our insurance coverage, or to the extent that we are required to pay higher insurance premiums, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, there may be certain risks for which we are unable to insure at a reasonable cost or at all.
A pandemic, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may have an adverse effect on our business, liquidity, consolidated results of operations and consolidated financial condition.
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a widespread health crisis that has adversely affected businesses, economies and financial markets worldwide and has caused significant volatility in U.S. and international debt and equity markets. A resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic or other pandemics may have related economic repercussions that could adversely impact our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Our supply chain, including of key equipment, could be disrupted if manufacturers have limited access to their facilities or labor shortages. Workforce availability may also be impaired due to exposure to the pandemic, which could negatively affect our costs or negatively impact our ability to develop or deploy our technology or impact our commercialization strategy.
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Any financial or economic crisis, or perceived threat of such a crisis, including a significant decrease in consumer confidence, may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In recent years, the global economies suffered dramatic downturns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a deterioration in the credit markets and related financial crisis and a variety of other factors including, among other things, extreme volatility in security prices, severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, inflation, ratings downgrades of certain investments and declining valuations of others. The United States and certain other governments have taken unprecedented actions in an attempt to address and rectify these extreme market and economic conditions by providing liquidity and stability to the financial markets. The outcome of the actions taken by these governments is still ongoing and, consequently, the return of adverse economic conditions may negatively impact the demand for our technology and may negatively impact our ability to raise capital, if needed, on a timely basis and on acceptable terms or at all.
Our commercialization strategy relies heavily on our contractual relationship with Baker Hughes.
We have entered into the Amended and Restated JDA with NPI in connection with the joint development arrangement for the design and development of a turbo expander for use in the NET Power Cycle. Pursuant to Amended and Restated JDA, NPI may terminate the arrangement, among other things, in the event of a change of control, and there is no guarantee that a change of control will not occur in the future. We may not be able to replace this strategic partnership if our relationship terminates, which could adversely impact our business and financial condition.
We, our licensees and our partners may be unable to adequately control the costs associated with the development and deployment of our technology.
We will require significant capital to develop and grow our business, and we expect to incur significant expenses, including those relating to developing and commercializing the NET Power Cycle, research and development, production, sales, maintenance and service and building the NET Power brand. Our largest costs prior to project deployment are expected to be equipment and construction costs. Our current estimates of the costs associated with development and commercialization could prove inaccurate, and that could impact the cost of our technology and of our business overall. If we are unable to efficiently design, develop, commercialize, license, market and deploy our technology in a cost-effective manner, our margins, profitability and prospects would be materially and adversely affected.
Risks Related to Our Market
The energy market continues to evolve and is highly competitive, so we may not be successful in competing in this industry or in establishing and maintaining confidence in our long-term business prospects among current partners, future partners and customers. The development and adoption of competing technology could materially and adversely affect our ability to license our technology.
We operate in the highly competitive area of clean energy production with a substantial number of other companies, including combined cycle power plant (“CCGT”) assets with post-combustion capture, renewables with long-duration storage and small modular reactor (“SMR”) plants. We face intense competition from independent, technology-driven companies in each of the following areas:
• acquiring desirable properties or leases for developing plants;
• marketing our licenses;
• integrating new technologies; and
• acquiring the equipment, personnel and expertise necessary to develop and operate our power plants.
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Many of our competitors have financial, managerial, technological and other resources that are substantially greater than ours. Many of our competitors may enjoy technological advantages and may be able to implement new technologies more rapidly than we can. Our ability to compete effectively in the future will depend upon our ability to successfully conduct operations, implement advanced technologies, evaluate and select suitable properties and consummate transactions in this highly competitive environment.
The market for power plants implementing the NET Power Cycle is not yet established, and there is limited infrastructure to efficiently transport and store carbon dioxide. If the market for power plants implementing the NET Power Cycle does not achieve the growth potential we expect or if it grows more slowly than expected, it could materially and adversely affect our business.
We expect the NET Power Cycle to be the first standalone natural gas 24/7 carbon-free energy (“CFE”) solution, and, as such, the market for our technology has not yet been established. In addition, there is limited infrastructure to efficiently transport and store carbon dioxide, and such limited infrastructure may limit the deployment of the NET Power Cycle. Our estimates for the total addressable market are based on a number of internal and third-party estimates, including the number of potential customers who have expressed interest in licensing our technology, assumed prices and production costs for our plants, our ability to leverage our current logistical and operational processes and general market conditions. However, our assumptions and the data underlying our estimates may not be correct and the conditions supporting our assumptions or estimates may change at any time, thereby reducing the predictive accuracy of these underlying factors. As a result, our estimates of the annual total addressable market for our plants, as well as the expected growth rate for the total addressable market for our plants, may prove to be incorrect, which could materially and adversely affect our business.
The cost of electricity generated from NET Power Cycle may not be cost competitive with other electricity generation sources in some markets, and such lack of competitiveness could materially and adversely affect our business.
While our modeling suggests that a fully decarbonized, 24/7 CFE power grid, which is what our technology is designed to provide, is expected to result in 50% lower electricity prices as compared to a grid solely based on variable renewable energy, like wind and solar, there can be no guarantee that such modeling is accurate or that our technology will actually result in lower prices of this magnitude or at all. Some electricity markets experience very low power prices due to a combination of subsidized renewables and low-cost fuel sources, and we may not be able to compete in these markets unless the benefits of the NET Power Cycle are sufficiently valued in the market. Given the relatively lower electricity prices in the United States when compared to many international markets, the risk may be greater with respect to business in the United States. Moreover, historically very low or negative market prices are the result of surplus generation that cannot be curtailed and are transitory. These low prices do not reflect a price to beat for our technology.
Risks Related to Government Regulation
Our business relies on the deployment of power plants that are subject to a wide variety of extensive and evolving government laws and regulations, including environmental laws and regulations. Changes in and/or failure to comply with such laws and regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Regulatory risk factors associated with our business include:
• our ability to obtain additional applicable permits, approvals, licenses or certifications from regulatory agencies, if required, and to maintain current permits, approvals, licenses or certifications;
• our ability to obtain regulatory approval for a site boundary emergency planning zone defined in such a fashion as will benefit the majority of U.S.-based customers;
• regulatory delays, delays imposed as a result of regulatory inspections and changing regulatory requirements may cause a delay in our ability to fulfill our existing or future orders or may cause planned plants to not be completed at all, many of which may be out of our control, including changes in governmental regulations or in the status of our regulatory approvals or applications or other events that force us to cancel or reschedule plant construction, any of which could have an adverse impact on our business and financial condition;
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• regulatory, availability and other challenges may delay our progress in establishing the number of plant sites we require for our targeted build rate, and such challenges could have an adverse effect on our ability to grow our business; and
• challenges as a result of regulatory processes or in our ability to secure the necessary permissions to establish these plant sites could delay our customers’ ability to achieve commercial operations and could adversely affect our business.
Any of these risk factors could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Our customers must obtain regulatory approvals and permits before they construct power plants using our technology, and approvals may be denied or delayed.
The lead time to build a natural gas power facility is long and requires site licensing and approvals from applicable regulatory agencies before a plant can be constructed. The regulatory framework to obtain approvals is complex and varies from country to country, and regulators’ lack of familiarity with our technology may prolong this process, alongside any potential objections or adverse public reaction to the construction of a natural gas power plant. Any delays experienced by our customers in siting a power plant using our products and services could materially and adversely affect our business.
Unfavorable changes in laws, regulations and policies in foreign countries in which we seek to license our technology, our, our partners’ or our project developers’ failures to secure timely government authorizations under laws and regulations or our failure to comply with such laws and regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Compliance with laws and regulations applicable to our international operations increases our cost of doing business in foreign jurisdictions. We may be unable to keep current with changes in foreign government requirements and laws as they change from time to time. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations could have adverse effects on our business. In many foreign countries, it is common for others to engage in business practices that are prohibited by our internal policies and procedures or by U.S. regulations applicable to us. Although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with these laws and policies, there can be no assurance that all of our employees, contractors, partners and third-party service providers will comply with these laws and policies. Violations of laws or key control policies by our employees, contractors, partners or third-party service providers could result in delays in revenue recognition, financial reporting misstatements, fines, penalties or the prohibition of the importation or exportation of our products and services and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Changes in laws and regulations and electric market rules and protocols regarding the requirements for interconnection to the electric transmission grid and the commercial operation of our customers’ power generation projects could affect the cost, timing and economic results of conducting our operations.
Our customers’ operations will be subject to governmental and electric grid regulations in virtually all aspects of our operations, including the amount and timing of electricity generations, the performance of scheduled maintenance and the compliance with power grid control and dispatch directives as well as environment protection regulations. There can be no assurance that these regulations will not change in the future in a manner that could adversely affect our business.
We and our potential licensees may encounter substantial delays in the design, manufacture, regulatory approval and launch of power plants, and that could prevent us and our licensees from commercializing and deploying our technology on a timely basis, if at all.
Any delay in the design, manufacture, regulatory approval and launch of power plants or related technology could adversely affect our business because it could delay our ability to generate revenue and could adversely affect the development of customer relationships. Additionally, we may encounter delays in obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals or delays in commercializing our technology, including delays in entering into agreements for the supply of component parts and manufacturing tools and supplies. Delays in the launching of our technology would materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
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Our partners and customers are subject to environmental, health and safety laws and to regulations including, if applicable, remediation matters that could adversely affect our business, results of operation and reputation.
The operations and properties of our anticipated partners and customers are subject to a variety of federal, state, local and foreign environmental, health and safety laws and regulations governing, among other things, air emissions, wastewater discharges, management and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous materials and waste and remediation of releases of hazardous materials. Although our business model is primarily focused on licensing our technology, we must design the technology so it complies with such laws and regulations. Compliance with environmental requirements could require our customers to incur significant expenditures or could result in significant restrictions on their operations. The failure to comply with such laws and regulations, including failing to obtain any necessary permits, could result in substantial fines or enforcement actions, including regulatory or judicial orders enjoining or curtailing operations or requiring our customers to conduct or to fund remedial or corrective measures, to install pollution control equipment or to perform other actions. More vigorous enforcement by regulatory agencies, the future enactment of more stringent laws, regulations or permit requirements, including relating to climate change, or other unanticipated events may arise in the future and may adversely impact the market for our products, and such unanticipated events could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We and our customers operate in a politically sensitive environment, and the public perception of fossil fuel derived energy can affect our customers and us. Our future growth and success are dependent upon consumers’ willingness to develop natural-gas-fueled power generation facilities.
Our future prospects are dependent upon a certain level of public support for natural gas. While the public perception of natural gas is generally more positive than that of oil, coal or gasoline, there is still substantial opposition to natural gas due to its association with hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), its non-renewability and its reliance on high energy and water inputs. There is a significant coalition of people advocating against the use of natural gas for power generation and instead advocating for nuclear energy or renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy. Any adverse public reaction to our business, including any high-profile incident involving fracking, could directly affect our customers and could indirectly affect our business. Adverse public reaction could lead to increased regulation or outright prohibition, limitations on the activities of our customers, more onerous operating requirements or other conditions that could have a material adverse impact on our customers’ and on our business.
Restrictions on the use of certain operation practices, such as fracking, could adversely impact our business.
Some states and certain municipalities have regulated or are considering regulating fracking, and such regulations could impact certain of our operations. While we do not believe that these regulations and contemplated actions have limited or prohibited fracking, and while they have not impacted our activities to date, there can be no assurance that these actions, if taken on a wider scale, may not adversely impact our business operations and revenue.
The demand for our business may be curtailed by government or prospective licensees failing to consider hydrocarbon-based power as “clean,” even when paired with energy transition technology such as carbon capture, use, storage and sequestration, thereby reducing our expected growth.
Our technology is designed specifically for the purpose of producing clean energy with nominal or no carbon emissions. Current natural gas production is often associated with significant carbon emissions, even if such emissions are less than those from burning coal or petroleum products. Natural gas is also generally associated with fracking, non-renewability and reliance on high energy and water inputs. While we believe that natural gas, and particularly natural gas used to produce clean energy using our 24/7 CFE technology, is an integral part of the global energy transition, there is a public perception of natural gas as “dirty” energy due to its common association with the above-mentioned factors. There is no guarantee that we will be able to convince government entities or prospective licensees and partners that our process is “clean,” and this could result in regulatory delays, fewer customers and damage to our reputation and business, all of which could materially reduce our expected growth.
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We may be subject to new, stricter measures and/or regulatory requirements for the mitigation or reduction of greenhouse gas emissions that could require radical changes to development models if regulations lump natural gas together with other non-renewable energy sources, and such requirements could adversely affect our business, reputation and operations.
Global climate change creates new challenges for the energy industry and its regulators. The United Nations and several countries have adopted, or are evaluating the adoption of, new measures and/or regulatory requirements for the mitigation or reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, such as taxes on carbon, raising efficiency standards or adopting cap and trade regimes. Certain mitigation actions could require radical changes to development models, such as the transition from the use of conventional energy sources to the use of renewable energy sources that reduce environmental pollution, contribute to sustainable development and avoid global warming since the greenhouse gas emissions of renewable energy sources are usually very low. While we believe that electricity produced using natural gas through our NET Power Cycle will be an integral part of the global energy transition, certain regulations may lump natural gas together with other non-renewable energy sources such as oil, coal or gasoline rather than renewable energy sources such as wind or solar energy, and, as such, new regulations may be stricter than anticipated. We cannot assure you that new regulations or measures that may be adopted by the U.S. government or foreign governments will not have an adverse effect on our business and our results of operations.
The progress and challenges of the energy transition could have a significant adverse effect on us if we are unable to keep up with the pace of the global energy transition and allocate our resources effectively.
The ability to license and deploy natural gas power plants may be limited due to conflict, war or other political disagreements between gas-producing nations and potential customers, and such disagreements may adversely impact our business plan.
Conflict, war or other political disagreements between gas producing nations and potential customers could affect our operations in unpredictable ways, including disruptions of fuel supplies and markets and the possibility that infrastructure facilities, including pipelines, production facilities, refineries, electric generation, transmission and distribution facilities, offshore rigs and vessels and communications infrastructures, could be direct targets of, or indirect casualties of, a cyberattack or an act of piracy or terror. The continued threat of terrorism and the impact of military and other government action has led and may lead to further increased volatility in prices for natural gas and could affect the natural gas market or the financial markets that we use.
In late February 2022, Russian military forces commenced a military operation and invasion against Ukraine. The United States, other countries and certain international organizations have imposed broad economic sanctions on Russia and certain Russian individuals, banking entities and corporations as a response and additional sanctions may be imposed in the future. The length, impact and outcome of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine is highly unpredictable, and such unpredictability has created uncertainty for financial and commodity markets. While NET Power does not currently have operations overseas, the conflict elevates the likelihood of supply chain disruptions, heightened volatility in energy prices and negative effects on our ability to raise additional capital when required and could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition or future results.
Conflicts of this sort, or the threat of conflicts of this sort, may also have an adverse effect on the broader economy. Instability in the financial markets as a result of war, sabotage, piracy, cyberattacks or terrorism could also affect our ability to raise capital and could also adversely affect the natural gas and power industries and could restrict their future growth. Any resulting economic downturn could adversely affect our results of operations, impair our ability to raise capital or otherwise adversely impact our ability to realize certain business strategies.
We are subject to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, financial and economic sanctions and similar laws, and non-compliance with such laws can subject us to administrative, civil and criminal fines and penalties, collateral consequences, remedial measures and legal expenses, all of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and reputation.
We are subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”), the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the U.K. Bribery Act of 2010, the U.K. Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and other anti-corruption laws in countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption laws are interpreted broadly and prohibit our company from authorizing, offering or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments or
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benefits to recipients in the public or private sector. We use or anticipate use of third-party law firms, accountants and other representatives for regulatory compliance, sales and other purposes in several countries. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of these third-party representatives, our employees, contractors, partners and other agents, even if we do not explicitly authorize such activities. In addition, although we have implemented policies and procedures intended to ensure compliance with anti-corruption laws, our employees, representatives, contractors, partners and agents may not comply with these laws at all times.
Noncompliance with these laws could subject us to whistleblower complaints, investigations, sanctions, settlements, prosecution, other enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, significant fines, damages, other civil and criminal penalties or injunctions, suspension and/or debarment from contracting with certain persons, the loss of export privileges, reputational harm, adverse media coverage and other collateral consequences. If any subpoenas or investigations are launched, if governmental or other sanctions are imposed or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially harmed. In addition, responding to any action will likely result in a materially significant diversion of management’s attention and of resources and in significant defense costs and other professional fees. Enforcement actions and sanctions could further harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Moreover, as an issuer of securities, we also are subject to the accounting and internal controls provisions of the FCPA. These provisions require us to maintain accurate books and records and a system of internal controls sufficient to detect and prevent corrupt conduct. Failure to abide by these provisions may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Any potential changes or reductions in available government incentives promoting greenhouse gas emissions projects, such as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022’s financial assistance program funding installation of zero-emission technology, may adversely affect our ability to grow our business.
In August 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”) into law. The provisions of the IRA are intended to, among other things, incentivize domestic clean energy investment, manufacturing and production. The economics for carbon sequestration will benefit from raising the carbon capture tax credit from $50 per metric ton to $85 per metric ton. The credit will be “direct pay,” meaning it would be a refundable credit, for the first five years, starting with the year a “qualified facility” is placed in service, but not beyond December 31, 2032. In addition, the law lowers the threshold for eligibility as a “qualified facility” to include any carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (“CCUS”) facility placed on an electric generating facility that captures 18,750 tons of carbon annually and has a capture rate of at least 75%, as measured by an applicable electric generating unit’s baseline carbon oxide production. We believe that a project utilizing the NET Power Cycle can meet the criteria for a “qualified facility” under this definition, and, as such, we intend to apply for tax credits under Section 45Q of the Code.
We view the enactment of the IRA as favorable for our development and commercialization efforts. However, we are continuing to evaluate the overall impact and applicability of the IRA to our development and commercialization efforts. It is unclear how this legislation will be implemented by the U.S. Department of Treasury and what, if any, impact it will have on our tax rate. If the IRA or any current or future similar legislation is amended or repealed, or if it is interpreted by courts or implemented by regulatory agencies differently than we expect, then this could adversely affect our anticipated timelines, projected financials and ability to grow our business.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
We are developing NET Power-owned intellectual property, but we rely heavily on the intellectual property we have in-licensed and which is core to the NET Power Cycle. The ability to protect these patents, patent applications and other proprietary rights may be challenged or may be faced with our inability or failure to obtain, maintain, protect, defend and enforce, exposing us to possible material adverse impacts on our business, competitive position and operating results.
Our discovery and development technology platforms are built, in part, around intellectual property rights in-licensed from our partners, including our license from 8 Rivers that is core to the NET Power Cycle. Under our existing license agreements, we are subject to various obligations, which may include diligence obligations with respect to development and commercialization activities, payment obligations upon achievement of certain
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milestones and royalties on product sales. If there is any conflict, dispute, disagreement or issue of nonperformance between us and our counterparties regarding our rights or obligations under these license agreements, including any conflict, dispute or disagreement arising from our failure to satisfy diligence or payment obligations, we may be liable to pay damages and our counterparties may have a right to terminate the affected license. The termination of any license agreement with one of our partners, including 8 Rivers, could adversely affect our ability to utilize the intellectual property that is subject to that license agreement in our discovery and development efforts, our ability to enter into future collaboration, licensing and/or marketing agreements for one or more of our technologies and our ability to commercialize the affected technology. Furthermore, disagreements under any of these license agreements may arise, including those related to:
• the scope of rights granted under the license agreement and other interpretation-related issues;
• whether and the extent to which our technology and processes may infringe on intellectual property of the licensor that is not subject to the licensing agreement;
• our right to sublicense patent and other rights to third parties under collaborative development relationships; and
• the ownership of inventions and know-how resulting from the joint creation or use of intellectual property by our licensors and us and our partners.
These disagreements may harm our relationship with our partners, and such harm could have negative impacts on other aspects of our business.
Additionally, the intellectual property we have in-licensed from 8 Rivers could be susceptible to third-party challenges of 8 River’s retained rights. Pursuant to our license agreement and a related excluded field agreement, we have exclusive rights to the NET Power Cycle for the generation of electricity using CO2 as the primary working fluid utilizing any carbonaceous gas fuel other than those derived from certain solid fuel sources. 8 Rivers retains the rights of use to the NET Power Cycle for the generation of electricity using CO2 as the primary working fluid utilizing any carbonaceous gas derived directly or indirectly from such solid fuel sources, and if any third party challenges such use, such challenges could tangentially impact our use of the in-licensed technology.
We may lose our rights to some or all of the core intellectual property that is in-licensed by way of either the licensor not paying renewal fees or maintenance fees, or by way of third parties challenging the validity of the intellectual property, thereby resulting in competitors easily entering into the same market and decreasing the revenue that we receive from our customers, and this may adversely affect our ability to develop, market and license our technology.
Because our technology requires the use of proprietary rights held by third parties, the growth of our business will likely depend in part on our ability to continue to in-license these proprietary rights. Licensing intellectual property involves complex legal, business and scientific issues. If we are not able to maintain such licenses, or if we fail to obtain any future necessary licenses on commercially reasonable terms or with sufficient breadth to cover the intended use of third-party intellectual property, our business could be materially harmed. Further, if our licensors lose their licenses, whether due to not paying renewal or maintenance fees, third parties challenging the validity or otherwise, we would also lose rights to the covered intellectual property, and such loss could also materially harm our business.
If disputes over licensed intellectual property prevent or impair our ability to maintain the licensing arrangements on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully develop and commercialize our technology, or the dispute may have an adverse effect on our results of operation.
We, our partners, our licensees and our critical equipment suppliers may need to defend ourselves against intellectual property infringement claims, which may negatively impact market demand for our process licenses. Further, defending against intellectual property claims can be time consuming and expensive, and such defense may divert our resources away from our business efforts, regardless of the outcome of these claims.
Third parties may hold or obtain patents, trademarks or other proprietary rights that would prevent, limit or interfere with our ability to manufacture, develop or sell our products, and that could make it more difficult for us to operate our business and generate revenue. From time to time, we may receive inquiries from holders of patents or trademarks inquiring whether we are infringing their proprietary rights and/or seeking court declarations that they
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do not infringe upon our intellectual property rights. Companies holding patents or other intellectual property rights relating to our technology may bring suits alleging infringement of such rights or otherwise asserting their rights and seeking licenses. In addition, if we are determined to have infringed upon a third party’s intellectual property rights, we may be required to do one or more of the following: cease licensing, selling, incorporating or using products that incorporate the challenged intellectual property; pay substantial damages; obtain a license from the holder of the infringed intellectual property right that may not be available on reasonable terms or at all; or redesign our plant technology. In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us and our failure or inability to obtain a license to the infringed technology, our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. In addition, any litigation or claims, whether or not valid, could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management’s attention.
Third parties may successfully challenge or invalidate our rights or ability to use in-licensed intellectual property that is core to the NET Power Cycle.
Competitors or other third parties may infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate our in-licensed issued patents or other intellectual property we may own. To counter such infringement, misappropriation or other unauthorized use, we may be required to file infringement claims, which can be expensive and time-consuming and can divert the time and attention of our management and scientific personnel. Any claims we assert against third parties could provoke these parties to assert counterclaims against us alleging that we infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property. In addition, our in-licensed patents may become involved in inventorship or priority disputes. Third parties may raise challenges to the validity of certain of our in-licensed patent claims and may in the future raise similar claims before administrative bodies in the United States or abroad, even outside the context of litigation. For example, we may be subject to a third-party pre-issuance submission of prior art to the USPTO, or we may become involved in derivation, revocation, reexamination, post-grant review (also known as PGR), inter partes review (also known as IPR) and equivalent proceedings in foreign jurisdictions, such as opposition proceedings challenging any patents that we may own or in-license. Such submissions may also be made prior to a patent’s issuance, precluding the granting of a patent based on one of our owned or licensed pending patent applications. A third party may also claim that our potential future owned patents or licensed patent rights are invalid or unenforceable in a litigation. The outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable. An adverse determination in any such submission, proceeding or litigation could reduce the scope of, invalidate or render unenforceable our potential future owned patents or licensed patent rights, allow third parties to commercialize the NET Power Cycle or related technologies and compete directly with us without payment to us, or such adverse determination could result in our inability to manufacture or commercialize products without infringing third-party patent rights. In a patent infringement proceeding, there is a risk that a court will decide that a patent we in-license is invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, and that we do not have the right to stop the other party from using the invention at issue. There is also a risk that, even if the validity of such patents is upheld, the court will construe the patent’s claims narrowly or decide that we do not have the right to stop the other party from using the invention at issue on the grounds that our in-licensed patents do not cover the invention. An adverse outcome in a litigation or proceeding involving our in-licensed patents could limit our ability to assert our in-licensed patents against those parties or other competitors and may curtail or preclude our ability to exclude third parties from making and selling similar or competitive products. Similarly, in the future, we expect to rely on trademarks to distinguish the NET Power Cycle or related technologies, and if we assert trademark infringement claims, a court may determine that the marks we have asserted are invalid or unenforceable or that the party against whom we have asserted trademark infringement has superior rights to the marks in question. In this case, we could ultimately be forced to cease use of such trademarks.
In any infringement litigation, any award of monetary damages we receive may not be commercially valuable. Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during litigation. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments, and, if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our securities. Moreover, there can be no assurance that we will have sufficient financial or other resources to adequately file and pursue such infringement claims, which typically last for years before they are concluded. Some of our competitors and other third parties may be able to sustain the costs of such litigation or proceedings more effectively than we can because of their greater financial resources
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and more mature and developed intellectual property portfolios. Even if we ultimately prevail in such claims, the monetary cost of such litigation and the diversion of the attention of our management and scientific personnel could outweigh any benefit we receive as a result of the proceedings. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing, misappropriating or successfully challenging our intellectual property rights. Uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of patent litigation or other proceedings could have a negative impact on our ability to compete in the marketplace, and that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
Despite actively monitoring for potential third-party infringement, misappropriation, dilution or other violations of our intellectual property rights, there could be activities that could diminish the value of our services, brands or goodwill and that cause a decline in our revenue.
If we fail to protect our intellectual property rights adequately, our competitors might gain access to our technology, and our business might be harmed. In addition, defending our intellectual property rights might entail significant expense. Any of our trademarks or other intellectual property rights may be challenged by others or invalidated through administrative process or litigation. While we plan to file new patents, we may be unable to obtain patent protection for the technology covered in our patent applications. In addition, any patents issued in the future may not provide us with competitive advantages or may be successfully challenged by third parties. Furthermore, legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights are uncertain.
Effective patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret protection may not be available to us in every country in which our service is available. The laws of some foreign countries may not be as protective of intellectual property rights as those in the U.S., and mechanisms for enforcement of intellectual property rights may be inadequate. Legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights are uncertain, and any changes in, or unexpected interpretations of, intellectual property laws may compromise our ability to enforce our trade secrets and intellectual property rights. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may be unable to prevent third parties from infringing upon or misappropriating our intellectual property.
We might be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect our intellectual property rights. We may initiate claims or litigation against third parties for infringement of our proprietary rights or to establish the validity of our proprietary rights. Any litigation, whether or not it is resolved in our favor, could result in significant expense to us and divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel.
Our patent applications may not result in issued patents and our patent rights may be contested, circumvented, invalidated or limited in scope, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our ability to prevent others from interfering with commercialization of our technology.
Our patent applications may not result in issued patents, and not having such patents may have a material adverse effect on our ability to prevent others from commercially exploiting products similar to ours. The status of patents involves complex legal and factual questions, and the breadth of claims allowed is uncertain. As a result, we cannot be certain that any patent applications we have or will file will result in patents being issued or that our patents and any patents that may be issued to us will afford protection against competitors with similar technology. Numerous patents and pending patent applications owned by others exist in the fields in which we have developed and are developing our technology. In addition to those who may have patents or patent applications directed to relevant technology with an effective filing date earlier than any of our existing patents or pending patent applications, any of our existing or pending patents may also be challenged by others on the basis that they are otherwise invalid or unenforceable. Furthermore, patent applications filed in foreign countries are subject to laws, rules and procedures that differ from those of the United States, and, thus, we cannot be certain that foreign patent applications related to issued United States patents will be issued.
Even if our patent applications succeed and even if we are issued patents in accordance with them, it is still uncertain whether these patents will be contested, circumvented, invalidated or limited in scope in the future. The rights granted under any issued patents may not provide us with meaningful protection or competitive advantages, and some foreign countries provide significantly less effective patent enforcement than in the United States. In addition, the claims under any patents that issue from our patent applications may not be broad enough to prevent others from developing technologies that are similar to ours or that achieve results similar to ours. The intellectual
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property rights of others could also bar us from licensing and exploiting any patents that issue from our pending applications. In addition, patents issued to us may be infringed upon or designed around by others, and others may obtain patents that we need to license or design around, either of which would increase costs and may adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We maintain certain technology as trade secrets and others could independently develop competing or similar technologies, allowing others to develop plants without our license if our other intellectual property rights are insufficient to prevent such unlicensed development and deployment of plants.
We currently rely, and intend to rely in the future, on trade secrets, know-how and technology that are not protected by patents to maintain our competitive position. We may not be able to protect our trade secrets, know-how and other internally developed information adequately. Although we use reasonable efforts to protect this internally developed information and technology, our employees, consultants and other parties (including independent contractors and companies with which we conduct business) may unintentionally or willfully disclose our information or technology to competitors. Moreover, third parties may independently develop similar or equivalent proprietary information or otherwise gain access to our trade secrets, know-how and other internally developed information. Enforcing a claim that a third party illegally disclosed or obtained and is using any of our internally developed information or technology is difficult, expensive and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable.
We rely, in part, on non-disclosure, confidentiality and assignment-of-invention agreements with our employees, on independent contractors, on consultants and on companies with which we conduct business to protect our internally developed information. These agreements may not be self-executing or they may be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for such breach. These agreements may be found by a court to be unenforceable or invalid. We may fail to enforce our agreements in court if we are compelled to present them as evidence but are unable to locate and provide copies. Moreover, when employees with knowledge of our trade secrets and confidential information leave us and join new employers, it may be difficult or impossible for us to detect or prove misappropriation of our confidential information and trade secrets by the former employee and/or the former employee’s new employer. In addition, others may independently discover trade secrets and proprietary information, and, in such cases, we could not assert any trade secret rights against such party.
Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights, and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive position, business, financial condition and results of operations.
A number of foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the United States, and, so, our intellectual property rights may not be as strong or as easily enforced outside of the United States.
Patent, trademark and trade secret laws are geographical in scope and vary throughout the world. Some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as do the laws of the United States. In addition, trade secrets and know-how can be difficult to protect and some courts inside and outside the United States are less willing or unwilling to protect trade secrets and know-how. If any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor or other third party, we would have no right to prevent them from using that technology or information to compete with us, and our competitive position would be materially and adversely harmed. Further, even if we engaged local counsel in key foreign jurisdictions, policing the unauthorized use of its intellectual property in foreign jurisdictions may be difficult or impossible. Therefore, our intellectual property rights may not be as strong or as easily enforced outside of the United States, and efforts to protect against the infringement, misappropriation or unauthorized use of our intellectual property rights, technology and other proprietary rights may be difficult and costly outside of the United States. Furthermore, legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights are uncertain, and any changes in, or unexpected interpretations of, intellectual property laws may compromise our ability to enforce our patent rights, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights.
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We, our partners or our licensees may not identify relevant third-party patents or may incorrectly interpret the relevance, scope or expiration of a third-party patent, and such failure to identify or correctly interpret the patent may adversely affect our ability to develop, market and license our technology.
We cannot guarantee that any of our patent searches or analyses, including the identification of relevant patents, the scope of patent claims or the expiration of relevant patents, are complete or thorough nor can we be certain that we have identified each and every third-party patent and pending application in the United States and abroad that is relevant to or necessary for the commercialization of our technology in any jurisdiction.
The scope of a patent claim is determined by an interpretation of the law, the written disclosure in a patent and the patent’s prosecution history. Our interpretation of the relevance or the scope of a patent or a pending application may be incorrect, and such incorrect interpretation may negatively impact our ability to market our products. We may incorrectly determine that our products are not covered by a third-party patent or may incorrectly predict whether a third party’s pending application will issue with claims of relevant scope. In addition, because patent applications can take many years to issue, there may be currently pending applications unknown to us that may later result in issued patents upon which our technology may infringe. Our determination of the expiration date of any patent in the United States or abroad that we consider relevant may be incorrect, and such incorrect determination may negatively impact our ability to develop and market our technology. Our failure to identify and correctly interpret relevant patents may negatively impact our ability to develop and market our products.
The information technology systems and data that we maintain may be subject to intentional or inadvertent disruption, other security incidents or alleged violations of laws, regulations or other obligations relating to data handling that could result in regulatory investigations or actions, litigation, fines and penalties, disruptions of our business operations, reputational harm, loss of revenue or profits, loss of customers or sales and other adverse business consequences.
We rely on information technology systems in order to conduct business, including communicating with employees and our facilities, ordering and managing materials from suppliers and analyzing and reporting results of operations, as well as for storing sensitive, personal and other confidential information. While we have taken steps to ensure the security of our information technology systems, our security measures or those of our third-party vendors may not be effective and our or our third-party vendors’ systems may nevertheless be vulnerable to computer viruses, security breaches and other disruptions from unauthorized users. If our or our third-party vendors’ information technology systems are damaged or cease to be available or function properly for an extended period of time, whether as a result of a significant cyber incident or otherwise, our ability to communicate internally as well as with our retail customers could be significantly impaired, and such impaired ability to communicate may adversely impact our business.
Additionally, the techniques used to obtain unauthorized, improper or illegal access to information technology systems are constantly evolving, may be difficult to detect quickly and often are not recognized until after they have been launched against a target. We may be unable to anticipate these techniques, react in a timely manner or implement adequate preventative or remedial measures. Any operational failure or breach of security from these increasingly sophisticated cyberthreats could lead to the loss or disclosure of both our and our retail customers’ financial, product and other confidential information, lead to the loss or disclosure of personally identifiable information about our employees or customers, result in negative publicity and expensive and time-consuming regulatory or other legal proceedings, damage our relationships with our customers and have a material adverse effect on our business and reputation. In addition, we may incur significant costs and operational consequences in connection with investigating, mitigating, remediating, eliminating and putting in place additional tools and devices designed to prevent future actual or perceived security incidents and in connection with complying with any notification or other obligations resulting from any security incidents. Because we do not control our third-party vendors or the processing of data by our third-party vendors, our ability to monitor our third-party vendors’ data security is limited and we cannot ensure the integrity or security of the measures they take to protect and prevent the loss of our or our consumers’ data. As a result, we are subject to the risk that cyberattacks on, or other security incidents affecting, our third-party vendors may adversely affect our business, even if an attack or breach does not directly impact our systems.
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Risks Relating to the Tax Receivable Agreement
Pursuant to the Tax Receivable Agreement, NET Power Inc. will be required to pay to certain Opco Unitholders 75% of the tax savings that NET Power Inc. realizes as a result of increases in tax basis in Opco’s assets resulting from the future exchange of Opco Units for shares of Class A Common Stock (or cash) pursuant to the Opco LLC Agreement, as well as certain other tax benefits, including tax benefits attributable to payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement, and those payments may be substantial.
Opco Unitholders may exchange their Opco Units for shares of Class A Common Stock or, in certain circumstances, cash pursuant to the Opco LLC Agreement, subject to certain conditions and transfer restrictions as set forth therein. These exchanges are expected to result in increases in NET Power Inc.’s allocable share of the tax basis of the tangible and intangible assets of Opco, and such share may increase (for income tax purposes) depreciation and amortization deductions to which NET Power Inc. is entitled.
In connection with the Business Combination, NET Power Inc. entered into the Tax Receivable Agreement, which generally provides for the payment by it of 75% of certain tax benefits, if any, that NET Power Inc. realizes (or in certain cases is deemed to realize) as a result of these increases in tax basis and for the payment of certain other tax benefits, including tax benefits attributable to payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement. These payments are the obligation of NET Power Inc. and not of Opco. The actual increase in NET Power Inc.’s allocable share of Opco’s tax basis in its assets, as well as the amount and timing of any payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement, will vary depending upon a number of factors, including the timing of exchanges, the market price of the Class A Common Stock at the time of the exchange, the extent to which such exchanges are taxable and the amount and timing of the recognition of NET Power Inc.’s income. While many of the factors that will determine the amount of payments that NET Power Inc. will make under the Tax Receivable Agreement are outside of its control, NET Power Inc. expects that the payments it will make under the Tax Receivable Agreement may be substantial and could have a material adverse effect on NET Power Inc.’s financial condition and liquidity. For the sake of illustration, if there were an exchange of all of the outstanding Opco Units (other than those held by NET Power Inc.) immediately after the Business Combination in exchange for Class A Common Stock, the estimated tax benefits to NET Power Inc. subject to the Tax Receivable Agreement would be approximately $339.8 million undiscounted, and the related undiscounted payment to the parties to the Tax Receivable Agreement equal to 75% of the benefit would be approximately $254.9 million. Alternatively, if the Tax Receivable Agreement were terminated immediately after the Business Combination in an early termination, the estimated lump-sum payment under the Tax Receivable Agreement would be approximately $63.2 million. The foregoing figures are based on certain assumptions, including, but not limited to, (i) a $10.00 per share trading price of Class A Common Stock, (ii) a 22.28% federal corporate income tax rate and certain estimated state and local income tax rates, (iii) no material changes in U.S. federal income tax law, that NET Power Inc. will have sufficient income to utilize all tax attributes covered by the Tax Receivable Agreement, and, (iv) in the case of an early termination, a 20% discount rate as the weighted average cost of capital. Any payments made by NET Power Inc. under the Tax Receivable Agreement will generally reduce the amount of overall cash flow that might have otherwise been available to NET Power Inc. and could have benefited the holders of its Class A Common Stock. To the extent that NET Power Inc. is unable to make timely payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement for any reason, the unpaid amounts will be deferred and will accrue interest until paid; however, nonpayment for a specified period may constitute a material breach of a material obligation under the Tax Receivable Agreement and would therefore accelerate payments due under the Tax Receivable Agreement, as further described below. Furthermore, NET Power Inc.’s future obligation to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement could make it a less attractive target for an acquisition. See the section titled “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions — Tax Receivable Agreement.”
In certain cases, payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement may exceed the actual tax benefits NET Power Inc. realizes or may be accelerated.
Payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement are based on the tax reporting positions of NET Power Inc., and the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) or another taxing authority may challenge, which a court may sustain, all or any part of the tax basis increases, as well as other tax positions that we take. In the event that any tax benefits that we initially claim are disallowed as a result of such a challenge, we would not be reimbursed for any excess payments that may previously have been made under the Tax Receivable Agreement. Rather, excess payments made to such holders will be netted against any future cash payments otherwise required to be made by us, if any, after the determination of such excess. A challenge to any tax benefits claimed by us may not arise for a number of years
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following the time payments begin to be made in respect of such benefits or, even if challenged soon thereafter, such excess cash payment may be greater than the amount of future cash payments that we might otherwise be required to make under the terms of the Tax Receivable Agreement, possibly resulting in insufficient future cash payments against which to net such excess. As a result, in certain circumstances, we could make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement in excess of our actual income or franchise tax savings, and such excess payment could materially impair our financial condition.
Moreover, the Tax Receivable Agreement provides that, in the event that (i) we exercise our early termination rights under the Tax Receivable Agreement, (ii) certain changes of control of NET Power occur (as described in the Tax Receivable Agreement), (iii) we, in certain circumstances, fail to make a payment required to be made pursuant to the Tax Receivable Agreement by our final payment date, which non-payment continues until 30 days following receipt by us of written notice thereof or (iv) the Tax Receivable Agreement is rejected in a case commenced under bankruptcy laws (in which case no written notice of acceleration is required), our obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement will accelerate and we will be required to make a lump-sum cash payment to the applicable parties to the Tax Receivable Agreement equal to the present deemed value of all forecasted future payments that would have otherwise been made under the Tax Receivable Agreement, and such lump-sum payment would be based on certain assumptions that may materially overstate such present value, including those relating to our future taxable income. The lump-sum payment could be substantial and could materially exceed the actual tax benefits that we realize subsequent to such payment because such payment would be calculated assuming, among other things, that we would have certain tax benefits available to us and that we would be able to use the potential tax benefits in future years.
There may be a material negative effect on our liquidity if the payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement exceed the actual income or franchise tax savings that we realize.
Furthermore, our obligations to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement could also have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing certain mergers, asset sales, other forms of business combinations or other changes of control.
Risks Relating to Our Organizational Structure
NET Power Inc. is a holding company and its only material asset is its interest in Opco, and it is accordingly dependent upon distributions made by Opco and its subsidiaries to pay taxes, make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement and pay dividends (it being understood that we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on the Class A Common Stock in the foreseeable future).
NET Power Inc. is a holding company with no material assets other than its ownership interest in Opco. As a result, NET Power Inc. has no independent means of generating revenue or cash flow. Our ability to pay taxes, make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement and pay dividends (if any such dividend were to be paid) will depend on the financial results and cash flows of Opco and its subsidiaries and on the distributions it receives from Opco. Deterioration in the financial condition, earnings or cash flow of Opco and its subsidiaries for any reason could limit or impair Opco’s ability to pay such distributions. Additionally, to the extent that NET Power Inc. needs funds and Opco and/or any of its subsidiaries are restricted from making such distributions under applicable law or regulation or under the terms of any financing arrangements, or Opco is otherwise unable to provide such funds, it could materially adversely affect NET Power Inc.’s liquidity and financial condition. Opco is generally prohibited under Delaware law from making a distribution to a member to the extent that, at the time of the distribution, after giving effect to the distribution, liabilities of Opco (with certain exceptions) exceed the fair value of its assets. Opco’s subsidiaries are generally subject to similar legal limitations on their ability to make distributions to Opco.
Opco will continue to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes and, as such, generally will not be subject to any entity-level U.S. federal income tax. Instead, taxable income will be allocated to holders of Opco Units. Accordingly, NET Power Inc. will be required to pay income taxes on its allocable share of any net taxable income of Opco. Under the terms of the Opco LLC Agreement, Opco is obligated to make tax distributions to Opco Unitholders (including NET Power Inc.), calculated at certain assumed tax rates. In addition to income taxes, NET Power Inc. will also incur expenses related to its operations, including payment obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement, which could be significant, and some of which will be reimbursed by Opco (excluding payment obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement). NET Power Inc. intends to cause Opco to make ordinary
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distributions on a pro rata basis and to make tax distributions to Opco Unitholders in amounts sufficient to cover all applicable taxes, relevant operating expenses, payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement and dividends, if any, declared by NET Power Inc. However, Opco’s ability to make such distributions may be subject to various limitations and restrictions including, but not limited to, retention of amounts necessary to satisfy the obligations of Opco and its subsidiaries and restrictions on distributions that would violate any applicable restrictions contained in Opco’s debt agreements or any applicable law or that would have the effect of rendering Opco insolvent. To the extent that we are unable to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement for any reason, such payments will be deferred and will accrue interest until paid; provided, however, that nonpayment for a specified period may constitute a material breach of a material obligation under the Tax Receivable Agreement and may therefore accelerate payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement, which could be substantial.
Additionally, although Opco generally will not be subject to any entity-level U.S. federal income tax, it may be liable under U.S. federal tax law for adjustments to its tax return, absent an election to the contrary. In the event Opco’s calculations of taxable income are incorrect, Opco and/or its members, including NET Power Inc., in later years may be subject to material liabilities pursuant to this U.S. federal tax law and its related guidance.
We anticipate that the distributions NET Power Inc. will receive from Opco may, in certain periods, exceed our actual tax liabilities and obligations to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement. The Board, in its sole discretion, may make any determination from time to time with respect to the use of any such excess cash so accumulated, which may, among other uses, be used to pay dividends on Class A Common Stock. We will have no obligation to distribute such cash (or other available cash other than any declared dividend) to its stockholders.
The organizational structure of NET Power confers certain benefits upon the holders of shares of Class B Common Stock and Opco Units (which includes the Legacy NET Power Holders) that will not benefit the holders of shares of Class A Common Stock to the same extent.
As noted in the immediately above risk factor, NET Power Inc. is a holding company with no material assets other than its ownership interest in Opco. Subject to the obligation of Opco to make tax distributions and to reimburse NET Power Inc. for corporate and other overhead expenses, NET Power Inc. will have the right to determine whether to cause Opco to make non-liquidating distributions, and the amount of any such distributions. If Opco makes distributions, the holders of Opco Units (who also hold Class B Common Stock) will be entitled to receive equivalent distributions from Opco on a pro rata basis. However, because we must pay taxes, amounts that we may distribute as dividends to holders of Class A Common Stock are expected to be less on a per share basis than the amounts distributed by Opco to the holders of Opco Units on a per unit basis.
Risks Relating to the Business Combination
If the Business Combination’s benefits do not meet the expectations of financial analysts, the market price of the Class A Common Stock and Public Warrants may decline.
The market price of the Class A Common Stock and the Public Warrants may decline if the Company does not achieve the perceived benefits of the Business Combination or if the effect of the Business Combination on the Company’s financial or operating results is not consistent with the expectations of financial analysts. Accordingly, holders of the Company’s securities may experience a loss as a result of a decline in the market price of the Class A Common Stock. In addition, a decline in the market price of Class A Common Stock could adversely affect the Company’s ability to issue additional securities and to obtain additional financing in the future.
We may be required to subsequently take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the share price of our securities, and such charges could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
We cannot assure you that the due diligence conducted in relation to Old NET Power identified all material issues or risks associated with Old NET Power, its business or the industry in which it competes. As a result of these factors, we may incur additional costs and expenses and we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our recognizing losses. Even if our due diligence has identified certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. If any of these risks materialize, this could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations and could contribute to negative market perceptions about our securities or NET Power.
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We will incur increased costs and demands upon management as a result of being a public company as compared to Old NET Power.
As a public company listed in the United States, we have, and will continue to, incur significant additional legal, accounting and other costs. These additional costs could negatively affect our financial results. In addition, changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure, including regulations implemented by the SEC and the NYSE, may increase legal and financial compliance costs and make some activities more time-consuming. These laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. We have and intend to continue to invest resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management’s time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. If, notwithstanding our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations and standards, we fail to comply, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and our business may be harmed.
Failure to comply with these rules might also make it more difficult for us to obtain some types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we might be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. The impact of these events could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on the Board or as members of senior management.
The unaudited pro forma financial information included elsewhere in this prospectus may not be indicative of what NET Power Inc.’s actual financial position or results of operations would have been.
The unaudited pro forma financial information in this prospectus is presented for illustrative purposes only and has been prepared based on a number of assumptions stated therein. Accordingly, such pro forma financial information may not be indicative of our future operating or financial performance and our actual financial condition and results of operations may vary materially from our pro forma results of operations and balance sheet contained elsewhere in this prospectus, including as a result of such assumptions not being accurate. Additionally, the final adjustments could differ materially from the unaudited pro forma adjustments presented in this prospectus.
Risks Related to Ownership of the Offered Securities
The market price of the Offered Securities may be volatile.
Fluctuations in the price of the Company’s securities could contribute to the loss of all or part of your investment. Prior to the Closing, there was not a public market for the stock of Old NET Power. Accordingly, the valuation ascribed to Old NET Power in the Business Combination may not be indicative of the price that will prevail in the trading market following the Closing.
If an active market for the Company’s securities develops and continues, the trading price of the Company’s securities could be volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. Price volatility may be greater if the public float and/or trading volume of the Class A Common Stock is low.
Any of the factors listed below could have a material adverse effect on your investment in our securities and the Company’s securities may trade at prices significantly below the price you paid for them. In such circumstances, the trading price of the Company’s securities may not recover and may experience a further decline. Factors affecting the trading price of the Company’s securities may include:
• actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly financial results or the quarterly financial results of companies perceived to be similar to the Company;
• changes in the market’s expectations about the Company’s operating results;
• success of competitors;
• lack of adjacent competitors;
• the Company’s operating results failing to meet the expectation of securities analysts or investors in a particular period;
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• changes in financial estimates and recommendations by securities analysts concerning the Company or the industries in which the Company operates in general;
• operating and stock price performance of other companies that investors deem comparable to the Company;
• announcements by the Company or its competitors of significant contracts, acquisitions, joint ventures, other strategic relationships or capital commitments;
• changes in laws and regulations affecting the Company’s business;
• commencement of, or involvement in, litigation involving the Company;
• changes in the Company’s capital structure, such as future issuances of securities or the incurrence of additional debt;
• the volume of shares of Class A Common Stock available for public sale;
• any significant change in the Board or management;
• sales of substantial amounts of Class A Common Stock by our directors, executive officers or significant stockholders or the perception that such sales could occur;
• general economic and political conditions such as recessions, interest rates, fuel prices, international currency fluctuations and acts of war or terrorism; and
• changes in accounting standards, policies, guidelines, interpretations or principles.
Broad market and industry factors may materially harm the market price of our securities irrespective of our operating performance. The stock market in general and the NYSE have experienced price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of the particular companies affected.
In the past, following periods of market volatility, stockholders have instituted securities class action litigation. If the Company is involved in securities litigation, it could have a substantial cost and divert resources and the attention of executive management from the Company’s business regardless of the outcome of such litigation.
An active trading market for Class A Common Stock may not develop and you may not be able to sell your shares of Class A Common Stock.
Prior to the closing of the Business Combination, there was no public market for Class A Common Stock. Although we have listed the Class A Common Stock on the NYSE, an active trading market may never develop or be sustained. If an active market for the Class A Common Stock does not develop or is not sustained, it may be difficult for you to sell shares at an attractive price or at all.
If equity research analysts do not publish research or reports, or if they publish unfavorable research or reports, about us, our business, our market, our stock price and our trading volume could decline.
The trading market for Class A Common Stock will be influenced by the research and reports that equity research analysts publish about us and our business. In the event we do have equity research analyst coverage, we will not have any control over the analysts or the content and opinions included in their reports. The price of our stock could decline if one or more equity research analysts downgrade our stock or issue other unfavorable commentary or research. If one or more equity research analysts ceases coverage of our company or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our stock could decrease, which, in turn, could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.
Concentration of ownership among the Principal Legacy NET Power Holders may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.
Concentration of ownership among the Principal Legacy NET Power Holders may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions. The Principal Legacy NET Power Holders, if they were to act together, would be able to significantly influence all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election
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and removal of directors, any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets, or other significant corporate transactions. For further information, please see “— Conflicts of interest may arise because several directors on the Board were designated by the Principal Legacy NET Power Holders and Sponsor.” Moreover, some of these entities may have interests different than yours. For example, because many of these stockholders have held their shares for a long period, they may be more interested in selling our company to an acquirer than other investors, or they may want us to pursue strategies that deviate from the interests of other stockholders.
We are an “emerging growth company” and a “smaller reporting company” and, if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies or smaller reporting companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with certain other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions and relief from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies.” In particular, while we are an “emerging growth company,” we will not be required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, we will be exempt from any rules that could be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the “PCAOB”) requiring mandatory audit firm rotations or requiring a supplement to the auditor’s report on financial statements, we will be subject to reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and we will not be required to hold non-binding advisory votes on executive compensation or stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
In addition, the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected not to “opt out” of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accountant standards used.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (i) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the IPO, which occurred on June 18, 2021, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.235 billion or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common equity that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter, and (ii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.
The exact implications of the JOBS Act are subject to interpretation and guidance by the SEC and other regulatory agencies, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to take advantage of all of the benefits of the JOBS Act. In addition, investors may find the Class A Common Stock less attractive to the extent we rely on the exemptions and relief granted by the JOBS Act. If some investors find the Class A Common Stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for the Class A Common Stock and our stock price may decline or become more volatile.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (i) the market value of our common equity held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the last business day of the most recently completed second fiscal quarter or (ii) the market value of our common equity held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last business day of the most recently completed second fiscal quarter and our annual revenue in the most recent fiscal year completed before the last business day of such second fiscal quarter exceeded $100 million. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
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If we fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and effective disclosure controls and procedures, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner or prevent fraud, and such inability may adversely affect investor confidence in our company.
The standards required for a public company under Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are significantly more stringent than those required of Old NET Power when it was a privately-held company. Management may not be able to effectively and timely implement controls and procedures that adequately respond to the increased regulatory compliance and reporting requirements that are applicable following the Closing. To comply with the requirements of being a public company, we have undertaken actions, such as implementing new internal controls and procedures and hiring additional accounting or internal audit staff. When evaluating our internal control over financial reporting, we may identify material weaknesses that we may not be able to remediate in time to meet the applicable deadline imposed upon us for compliance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. If we identify any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, if we are unable to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner or unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting once we are no longer an emerging growth company, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports. As a result, the market price of the Class A Common Stock could be materially adversely affected.
Because we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on the Class A Common Stock in the foreseeable future, capital appreciation, if any, will be your sole source of gains and you may never receive a return on your investment.
You should not rely on an investment in the Class A Common Stock to provide dividend income. We currently intend to retain our future earnings, if any, to fund the development and growth of our business. In addition, the terms of any future debt agreements we may elect to utilize are likely to similarly preclude us from paying dividends. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of the Class A Common Stock will be your sole source of gain for the foreseeable future. Investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase Class A Common Stock.
Future sales, or the perception of future sales, by the Company or its stockholders in the public market could cause the market price for the Class A Common Stock to decline.
Pursuant to the terms of the Stockholders’ Agreement, each Principal Legacy NET Power Holder and BHES agreed to the following lock-up restrictions:
• 331/3% of its equity interests in the Company and Opco (“Company Interests”) that were received pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement as consideration for equity interests in Old NET Power, (or in the case of BHES, pursuant to the JDA (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement)) (the “Price-Based Lock-up Shares”) may not be transferred until after the three-year anniversary of the Closing Date; provided, however, that if the last sale price of the Class A Common Stock on the principal exchange on which such securities are then listed or quoted, for any 20 trading days within any 30 consecutive trading-day period commencing at least 15 days after the Closing, exceeds (i) $12.00 per share, then one-third of the Price-Based Lock-up Shares will no longer be subject to such lock-up restrictions, (ii) $14.00 per share, then an additional one-third of the Price-Based Lock-up Shares will no longer be subject to such lock-up restrictions, and (iii) $16.00 per share, then all of the Price-Based Lock-up Shares will no longer be subject to such lock-up restrictions; and
• 662/3% of its Company Interests that were received pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement as consideration for equity interests in NET Power, LLC (or in the case of BHES, pursuant to the JDA) (the “Time-Based Lock-up Shares”) may not be transferred until after the one-year anniversary of the Closing Date; provided, however, that if the last sale price of the Class A Common Stock on the principal exchange on which such securities are then listed or quoted, for any 20 trading days within any 30 consecutive trading-day period commencing at least six months after the Closing Date, exceeds $12.00 per share, then the Time-Based Lock-up Shares will no longer be subject to such lock-up restrictions.
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In addition, Sponsor and RONI’s independent directors and officers (the “RONI Insiders”) also agreed to be bound by certain “lock-up” provisions, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Sponsor Letter Agreement, as follows: (i) 3,510,643 of Sponsor’s (and permitted transferees thereof) and the RONI Insiders’ Company Interests will be restricted from transfer for a period of one year following the Closing and (ii) 1,575,045 of Sponsor’s Company Interests will be restricted from transfer for a period of three years following the Closing, in each case, subject to customary exceptions and potential early-release based on the stock price sustaining specified price thresholds for 20 trading days within any 30 consecutive trading-day period.
Upon the expiration or waiver of the lock-ups described above, shares held by such persons will be eligible for resale, subject to volume, manner of sale and other limitations under Rule 144, when such rule becomes applicable to the Company, or pursuant to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. By selling a large number of shares, these stockholders could cause the prevailing market price of the Class A Common Stock to decline.
As restrictions on resale end or if these stockholders exercise their registration rights, the market price of the Class A Common Stock could drop significantly if the holders of these shares sell them or are perceived by the market as intending to sell them. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to raise additional funds through future offerings of shares of Class A Common Stock or other securities.
In addition, the shares of Class A Common Stock reserved for future issuance under the NET Power Inc. 2023 Omnibus Incentive Plan (the “Incentive Plan”) will become eligible for sale in the public market once those shares are issued, subject to provisions relating to various vesting requirements and, in some cases, limitations on volume and manner of sale applicable to affiliates under Rule 144. Subject to adjustment in the event of certain transactions or changes of capitalization in accordance with the Incentive Plan, 20,468,545 shares of Class A Common Stock has been initially reserved for issuance pursuant to awards under the Incentive Plan. The number of shares available for issuance under the Incentive Plan will be subject to an annual increase on the first day of each calendar year beginning January 1, 2024, and ending and including January 1, 2033, equal to the lesser of (i) 5% of the aggregate number of shares outstanding on December 31 of the immediately preceding calendar year and (ii) any such smaller number of shares as is determined by the Board. The Company will file one or more registration statements on Form S-8 under the Securities Act to register shares of Class A Common Stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of Class A Common Stock issued pursuant to the Incentive Plan. Accordingly, shares registered under such registration statements will be available for sale in the open market.
In the future, we may also issue securities in connection with investments or acquisitions. The amount of shares of Common Stock issued in connection with an investment or acquisition could constitute a material portion of our then-outstanding shares of Common Stock. Any issuance of additional securities in connection with investments or acquisitions may result in additional dilution to our stockholders.
Outstanding warrants will become exercisable for Class A Common Stock, which would increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market and would result in dilution to our stockholders.
Outstanding warrants to purchase an aggregate of 19,524,974 shares of Class A Common Stock will become exercisable in accordance with the terms of the Warrant Agreement. These warrants will become exercisable 30 days following the Closing. The exercise price of these warrants will be $11.50 per share. To the extent such warrants are exercised, additional shares of Class A Common Stock will be issued, which will result in dilution to the holders of Class A Common Stock and will increase the number of shares eligible for resale in the public market. Sales of substantial numbers of such shares in the public market or the fact that such warrants may be exercised could adversely affect the market price of Class A Common Stock. However, there is no guarantee that the public warrants will ever be in the money prior to their expiration, and as such, the warrants may expire worthless.
Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for certain disputes between us and our stockholders, and such provision could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or with our directors, officers or employees.
Our Certificate of Incorporation specifies that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for most legal actions involving actions brought against us by stockholders; provided that, if and only if the Court of Chancery of the State
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of Delaware dismisses any such action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, such action may be brought in another state or in the federal court sitting in the State of Delaware. Our Certificate of Incorporation also provides that the federal district courts of the United States are the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action against us or any of our directors, officers, employees or agents and arising under the Securities Act. We believe these provisions may benefit us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law and federal securities laws by chancellors and judges, as applicable, particularly experienced in resolving corporate disputes, efficient administration of cases on a more expedited schedule relative to other forums and protection against the burdens of multi-forum litigation. However, these provisions may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers. The choice of forum provision requiring that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware be the exclusive forum for certain actions would not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act.
There is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provisions, and the enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ charter documents has been challenged in legal proceedings. While the Delaware courts have determined that such choice of forum provisions are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring a claim in a venue other than those designated in the exclusive forum provisions, and there can be no assurance that such provisions will be enforced by a court in those other jurisdictions. If a court were to find these types of provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable and if a court were to find the exclusive forum provision in our Certificate of Incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, and such costs could materially adversely affect our business.
The Warrant Agreement designates the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.
The Warrant Agreement provides that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the Warrant Agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and (ii) we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which will be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. We will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the Warrant Agreement do not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants will be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in the Warrant Agreement. Investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope of the forum provisions of the Warrant Agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a “foreign action”) in the name of any holder of our warrants, such holder will be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”) and (y) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.
This choice-of-forum provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our company, and, therefore, the provision may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of the Warrant Agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, and such costs could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and could result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.
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Delaware law and our governing documents contain certain provisions, including anti-takeover provisions, that limit the ability of stockholders to take certain actions and that could delay or discourage takeover attempts that stockholders may consider favorable.
Delaware law and our governing documents contain provisions that could have the effect of rendering more difficult, delaying or preventing an acquisition deemed undesirable by the Board and, therefore, could depress the trading price of Class A Common Stock. These provisions could also make it difficult for stockholders to take certain actions, including electing directors who are not nominated by the current members of the Board or who are taking other corporate actions, including effecting changes in our management. Among other things, our governing documents include provisions regarding:
• the ability of the Board to issue shares of preferred stock, including “blank check” preferred stock and to determine the price and other terms of those shares, including preferences and voting rights, without stockholder approval because such ability could be used to significantly dilute the ownership of a hostile acquirer;
• the limitation of the liability of and the indemnification of our directors and officers;
• a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent, thereby forcing stockholder action to be taken at an annual or special meeting of stockholders after such date and possibly delaying the ability of stockholders to force consideration of a stockholder proposal or to take action, including the removal of directors;
• the requirement that a special meeting of stockholders may be called only by the Chief Executive Officer, the Chairman of the Board or the Board, possibly delaying the ability of stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or to take action, including the removal of directors;
• controlling the procedures for the conduct and scheduling of board of directors and stockholder meetings;
• the ability of the Board to amend our bylaws, possibly allowing the Board to take additional actions to prevent an unsolicited takeover and to inhibit the ability of an acquirer to amend the bylaws to facilitate an unsolicited takeover attempt; and
• advance notice procedures with which stockholders must comply to nominate candidates to the Board or to propose matters to be acted upon at a stockholders’ meeting, possibly precluding stockholders from bringing matters before annual or special meetings of stockholders, delaying changes in the Board and discouraging or deterring a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or to otherwise attempt to obtain control of the Company.
These provisions, alone or together, could delay or prevent hostile takeovers and changes in control or changes in the Board or in its management.
The NYSE may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Currently, the Class A Common Stock and the Public Warrants are traded on the NYSE. However, we cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on the NYSE in the future. In order to continue listing our securities on the NYSE, we are required to maintain certain financial, distribution and stock price levels. We are required to maintain a minimum market capitalization (generally $50 million) and a minimum number of holders of our listed securities (generally 300 public holders).
If the NYSE delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
• a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
• reduced liquidity for our securities;
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• a determination that the Class A Common Stock is a “penny stock,” which will require brokers trading in the Class A Common Stock to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities;
• a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and
• a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Since the Class A Common Stock and the Public Warrants are listed on the NYSE, they are covered securities. If we are no longer listed on the NYSE, our securities would not be covered securities and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
We may redeem your unexpired Warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem the outstanding Public Warrants and the Private Placement Warrants (assuming the Private Placement Warrants are no longer held by a Permitted Transferee (as defined in the Warrant Agreement) of the Sponsor) at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the closing price of our Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Warrants — Anti-Dilution Adjustments”) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and provided that certain other conditions are met. If and when such Warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the Warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the Warrants. Redemption of the outstanding Warrants could force you to (i) exercise your Warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) sell your Warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your Warrants or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding Warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the market value of your warrants.
In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding Public Warrants and Private Placement Warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption provided that the closing price of our Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Warrants — Anti-Dilution Adjustments”) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and provided that certain other conditions are met, including that holders will be able to exercise their Warrants prior to redemption for a number of shares of Class A Common Stock determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A Common Stock. Please see “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Warrants — Redemption of Redeemable Warrants When the Price per Share of Class A Common Stock Equals or Exceeds $10.00”; provided, however, if the closing price of our Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption, then the Private Placement Warrants will only be redeemable pursuant to the foregoing once no longer held by a Permitted Transferee of the Sponsor. The value received upon exercise of the Warrants (i) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their Warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (ii) may not compensate the holders for the value of the Warrants, including because the number of shares received is capped at 0.361 share of Class A Common Stock per Warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the Warrants.
39
We may amend the terms of the Warrants in a manner that may be adverse to warrantholders. As a result, the exercise price of your Warrants could be increased, the Warrants could be converted into cash or stock (at a ratio different than initially provided), the exercise period could be shortened and the number of shares of Class A Common Stock purchasable upon exercise of a Warrant could be decreased, all without the approval of a warrantholder.
The Warrant Agreement provides that any modification or amendment to increase the exercise price of the Warrants or shorten the exercise period of the Warrants shall require the vote or written consent of the registered holders of 50% of the then-outstanding Public Warrants, and any modifications or amendments to the terms of the Private Placement Warrants shall also require the vote or written consent of the registered holders of 50% of the-then outstanding Private Placement Warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the Public Warrants in a manner adverse to a holder thereof if holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding Public Warrants approve of such amendment, and we may amend the terms of the Private Placement Warrants in a manner adverse to a holder thereof if holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding Private Placement Warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the Warrants with such consent is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the Warrants, convert the Warrants into cash or stock (at a ratio different than initially provided), shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of our Class A Common Stock purchasable upon exercise of a Warrant.
40
USE OF PROCEEDS
All of the shares of Class A Common Stock and Warrants offered by the Selling Securityholders pursuant to this prospectus will be sold by the Selling Securityholders for their respective accounts. We will not receive any of the proceeds from these sales.
The Selling Securityholders will pay any underwriting fees, discounts, selling commissions, stock transfer taxes and certain legal expenses incurred by such Selling Securityholders in disposing of their shares of Class A Common Stock and Warrants, and we will bear all other costs, fees and expenses incurred in effecting the registration of such securities covered by this prospectus, including, without limitation, all registration and filing fees, NYSE listing fees and fees and expenses of our counsel and our independent registered public accountants.
We will receive any proceeds from the exercise of the Warrants offered hereby for cash, but not from the sale of the shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise. We will receive up to an aggregate of approximately $125 million from the exercise of the Warrants offered hereby, assuming the exercise in full of all such Warrants for cash. We expect to use the net proceeds from the exercise of such Warrants for general corporate purposes, which may include acquisitions and other business opportunities and the repayment of indebtedness. Our management will have broad discretion over the use of proceeds from the exercise of such Warrants.
There is no assurance that the holders of the Warrants offered hereby will elect to exercise any or all of the Warrants. To the extent that the Warrants are exercised on a “cashless basis,” the amount of cash we would receive from the exercise of the Warrants will decrease.
41
MARKET PRICE OF THE CLASS A COMMON STOCK AND DIVIDENDS
Market Price of the Class A Common Stock
The Class A Common Stock and the Public Warrants are listed on the NYSE under the symbols “NPWR” and “NPWR WS,” respectively.
On July 5, 2023, the last sale price of the Class A Common Stock and the Public Warrants as reported on the NYSE were $12.52 per share and $3.29 per warrant, respectively.
As of July 5, 2023, there were 67,352,271 shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding held of record by 27 holders, 144,817,563 shares of Class B Common Stock outstanding held of record by 37 holders and warrants to purchase 19,524,974 shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding held of record by 19 holders. The number of record holders does not include The Depository Trust Company participants or beneficial owners holding shares or Warrants through banks, brokers, other financial institutions or other nominees.
Dividend Policy
We have never paid any cash dividends on the Common Stock. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition from time to time. The payment of any cash dividends will be within the discretion of the Board. It is presently expected that we will retain all earnings for use in our business operations and, accordingly, it is not expected that the Board will declare any dividends in the foreseeable future.
42
UNAUDITED PRO FORMA CONDENSED COMBINED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Unless otherwise expressly stated or defined or unless the context otherwise requires, defined terms included below have the same meaning as terms defined and included elsewhere in the prospectus.
The following unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information is provided to aid you in your analysis of the financial aspects of the Business Combination and the PIPE Financing as described in the notes to unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information below (collectively, the “Pro Forma Adjustments”).
RONI was formed on February 2, 2021. RONI is the managing member of RONI Opco, which was formed February 3, 2021, because it owns 34,502,000 Class A units of RONI Opco. Sponsor and the RONI independent directors are the members of RONI Opco. Upon formation of RONI Opco, Sponsor held 100 Class A units of RONI Opco and 8,534,900 Class B units of RONI Opco, and RONI’s independent directors held 90,000 Class B units of RONI Opco. Due to RONI Opco’s limited liability company structure functioning like a limited partnership with RONI as the managing member having decision making authority and the limited partners having neither any kick-out rights nor substantive participating rights, it was considered a VIE. On June 15, 2021, the IPO of RONI generated $345.0 million in cash that was subsequently contributed to RONI Opco for purposes of effecting the Business Combination at a later date. On July 26, 2022, RONI and NET Power executed a letter of intent to execute the Business Combination. On December 5, 2022, Buyer was formed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of RONI Opco, and Merger Sub was formed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Buyer. Upon formation and through the Business Combination, neither Buyer nor Merger Sub had significant pre-combination activities or material assets, liabilities, revenues or operations, and they were each were determined to be non-substantive entities as it relates to the Business Combination. Under the proposed structure of the Business Combination, NET Power will be acquired by and will merge with and into Merger Sub in exchange for 137.2 million Class A units of RONI Opco (economic, non-voting) and 137.2 million shares of Class B Common Stock of RONI (voting, non-economic).
In accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 810 — Consolidation (“ASC 810”), the Business Combination triggers a VIE reconsideration event due to RONI Opco’s initial status as a VIE and due to its acquisition of NET Power through its 100% owned subsidiaries, Buyer and Merger Sub. Based on the organization of the Up-C structure, in applying a bottom-up approach to determining the consolidation of the entities involved in the Business Combination, NET Power, a previously unconsolidated entity having no common control relationship with of the entities involved in the Up-C structure, is considered to be acquired by RONI Opco as a result of it being wholly-owned by Buyer, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RONI Opco, with Buyer being considered a non-substantive entity. RONI Opco, which will subsequently be renamed to NET Power Operations LLC, will continue to be considered a VIE after the Business Combination, with RONI as its primary beneficiary. RONI was determined to be the primary beneficiary of RONI Opco before and after the acquisition of NET Power because RONI will continue to serve as the sole managing member of RONI Opco, a role that allows RONI to control the most significant activities of RONI Opco (through which it will also control NET Power). RONI will also have an economic interest that provides it the ability to participate significantly in RONI Opco’s benefits and losses under all redemption scenarios. RONI Opco, which will subsequently be renamed to NET Power Operations LLC, will continue to be considered a VIE after the Business Combination because it will continue to function like a limited partnership with a managing member, over whom the limited partners will lack both substantive kick-out and participating rights. As a result, NET Power will be treated as the “acquired” company for financial reporting purposes. Accordingly, since NET Power meets the definition of a business presented in ASC Topic 805 — Business Combinations, for accounting purposes the Business Combination represents an acquisition of a business by RONI, and NET Power’s identifiable assets acquired, liabilities assumed and any non-controlling interests will be measured at their acquisition date fair value. The purchase consideration for the acquisition of NET Power consisted of the issuance of 137.2 million shares of Class B Common Stock of RONI, valued at $13.12 per share to arrive at a total consideration of $1.8 billion.
The following unaudited pro forma condensed combined balance sheet as of March 31, 2023 combines the historical condensed consolidated balance sheet of RONI as of March 31, 2023 with the historical consolidated balance sheet of NET Power as of March 31, 2023, giving further effect to Pro Forma Adjustments, as if they had been consummated as of March 31, 2023.
43
The following unaudited pro forma condensed combined statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 combine the historical condensed consolidated statement of operations of RONI for the year ended December 31, 2022, and the historical consolidated statements of operations of NET Power for the year ended December 31, 2022, giving effect to the Pro Forma Adjustments as if they had been consummated on January 1, 2022, the beginning of the earliest period presented.
The following unaudited pro forma condensed combined statements of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2023 combine the historical condensed consolidated statement of operations of RONI for the three months ended March 31, 2023, and the historical consolidated statements of operations of NET Power for the three months ended March 31, 2023, giving effect to the Pro Forma Adjustments as if they had been consummated on January 1, 2022, the beginning of the earliest period presented.
The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial statements have been derived from and should be read in conjunction with:
• the accompanying notes to the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial statements;
• the historical audited consolidated financial statements of RONI as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022 and the related notes included elsewhere in the Form 8-K;
• the historical unaudited condensed financial statements of RONI as of and for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and the related notes included elsewhere in the Form 8-K;
• the historical audited consolidated financial statements of NET Power as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022 and the related notes included elsewhere in the Form 8-K;
• the historical unaudited condensed financial statements of NET Power as of and for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and the related notes included elsewhere in the Form 8-K; and
• the sections entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of RONI,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of NET Power” and other financial information relating to RONI and NET Power included elsewhere in the Form 8-K .
The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information is for illustrative purposes only and is not necessarily indicative of what the actual results of operations and financial position would have been had the transactions included in the Pro Forma Adjustments taken place on the dates indicated, nor are they indicative of the future consolidated results of operations or financial position of the Combined Company. A review is in process to align all accounting policies among the two entities and therefore the results below are not necessarily indicative of figures post-transaction.
44
RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
UNAUDITED PRO FORMA CONDENSED COMBINED BALANCE SHEET
AS OF MARCH 31, 2023
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
RONI |
NET |
Transaction |
Pro Forma |
|||||||||||||||
ASSETS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
Current assets: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
Cash |
$ |
845 |
|
$ |
5,241 |
|
$ |
642,935 |
|
4(a) |
$ |
649,021 |
|
|||||
Due from Related Party |
|
8 |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
8 |
|
||||||
Receivables |
|
— |
|
|
63 |
|
|
— |
|
|
63 |
|
||||||
Prepaid Expenses |
|
205 |
|
|
436 |
|
|
— |
|
|
641 |
|
||||||
Other Current Assets |
|
— |
|
|
2,424 |
|
|
— |
|
|
2,424 |
|
||||||
Total Current Assets |
|
1,058 |
|
|
8,164 |
|
|
642,935 |
|
|
652,157 |
|
||||||
Property, Plant and Equipment, net |
|
— |
|
|
66,942 |
|
|
28,718 |
|
4(b) |
|
95,660 |
|
|||||
Right-of-use asset |
|
— |
|
|
751 |
|
|
— |
|
|
751 |
|
||||||
Intangible Assets, net |
|
— |
|
|
258 |
|
|
1,050,000 |
|
4(b) |
|
1,050,258 |
|
|||||
Goodwill |
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
656,495 |
|
4(b) |
|
656,495 |
|
|||||
Deferred Tax Asset |
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
4(c) |
|
— |
|
|||||
Investments held in Trust Account |
|
353,653 |
|
|
— |
|
|
(353,653 |
) |
4(d) |
|
— |
|
|||||
Total Assets |
$ |
354,711 |
|
$ |
76,115 |
|
$ |
2,024,495 |
|
$ |
2,455,321 |
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY (DEFICIT) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
Current liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
Accounts Payable |
$ |
26 |
|
$ |
672 |
|
$ |
— |
|
$ |
698 |
|
||||||
Accrued Liabilities |
|
5,818 |
|
|
3,425 |
|
|
— |
|
|
9,243 |
|
||||||
Due to Related Parties |
|
— |
|
|
4,035 |
|
|
— |
|
|
4,035 |
|
||||||
Lease Liability |
|
— |
|
|
134 |
|
|
— |
|
|
134 |
|
||||||
Total Current Liabilities |
|
5,844 |
|
|
8,266 |
|
|
— |
|
|
14,110 |
|
||||||
Derivative Warrant Liabilities |
|
29,278 |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
29,278 |
|
||||||
Deferred Underwriting Commissions in Connection with the Initial Public Offering |
|
11,722 |
|
|
— |
|
|
(11,722 |
) |
4(e) |
|
— |
|
|||||
Asset Retirement Obligation |
|
— |
|
|
2,475 |
|
|
— |
|
|
2,475 |
|
||||||
Lease liability |
|
— |
|
|
621 |
|
|
— |
|
|
621 |
|
||||||
Total Liabilities |
$ |
46,844 |
|
$ |
11,362 |
|
$ |
(11,722 |
) |
$ |
46,484 |
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Rice Acquisition Corp. II Class A common stock, subject to possible redemption; $0.0001 par value; 34,500,000 shares issued and outstanding at redemption value of approximately $10.25 per share |
$ |
353,527 |
|
$ |
— |
|
$ |
(353,527 |
) |
4(f) |
$ |
— |
|
|||||
Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit): |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
Rice Acquisition Corp. II Class A common stock; $0.0001 par value; 300,000,000 shares authorized; 2,500 shares issued and outstanding (Historical); 300,000,000 shares authorized (Pro Forma) 67,402,271 shares issued and outstanding (Pro Forma) |
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
7 |