Energy storage firm Dragonfly to go public in blank check deal

May 16 (Renewables Now) - Dragonfly Energy Corp, a Reno, Nevada-based maker of deep cycle lithium-ion batteries, on Monday said it will go public via a merger with blank check company Chardan NexTech Acquisition 2 Corp (NASDAQ:CNTQ).

The deal values Dragonfly at a USD 500 million (EUR 481.5m) pro forma enterprise value. Once the transaction is completed, the combined company will be called Dragonfly Energy and listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker "DFLI."

The combined business will receive proceeds made up of CNTQ's USD 128 million of cash in trust and a further USD 230 million, including a USD 75 million senior secured term loan and a USD 150 million equity facility from investment bank Chardan.

In 2021, Dragonfly generated USD 78 million in revenue and USD 8.7 million in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), with these figures expected to grow further in 2022 and 2023.

The company’s lithium-ion batteries with a proprietary battery management system are supplied to recreational vehicles, marine vessels, material handling, and off-grid homes and solar applications.

Part of the funds raised through the deal will go towards commercialisation of Dragonfly’s all-solid-state-battery technology, which is non-flammable and seeks to enable efficient distributed energy storage.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.963)