Hydrogen truck firm Hyzon Motors going public in $2.7b merger

Hydrogen fuel cell truck manufacturer Hyzon Motors is set to become a publicly listed company on the Nasdaq through a $US2.7 billion merger agreement. 

The New York-based company will combine its business with Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corporation (DCRB) to form a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). 

The deal will provide gross proceeds of around US$626 million, including a US$400m fully committed common stock PIPE at US$10 per share. 

Institutional investors include funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, the Federated Hermes Kaufmann Funds, Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Wellington Management and Riverstone Energy Limited. 

Hyzon Motors was launched in March last year and is a subsidiary of Singapore-based Horizon Fuel Cell Group. Horizon was founded in 2003 and operates five international subsidiaries in the development of hydrogen technology.

The company is also setting up operations to target the New Zealand and Australian markets and recently signed a deal with New Plymouth-based Hiringa Energy for the supply of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) along with fleet partners TR Group and TIL Logistics. 

Hyzon describes itself as a pure-play, independent mobility company with an exclusive focus on hydrogen in the commercial vehicle market.

The public listing will add another hydrogen transport stock to the market alongside Nikola (NKLA), which became publicly traded via a SPAC merger in 2020 and is currently valued at around US$8.3b. There is also fuel cell technology company Plug Power (PLUG) which has a market capitalisation of around US$32 billion.

Hyzon’s leadership will remain intact with Craig Knight continuing as chief executive. The board of directors of the combined company will include representation from Hyzon and DCRB. Completion of the deal is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2021.

“We are excited to partner with DCRB at an important inflection point for our company, hydrogen and society,” Knight says. 

“Deliveries of Hyzon fuel cell powered heavy trucks to customers in Europe and North America will occur this year, well ahead of our competitors, and our committed sales pipeline is proof that the world is truly recognizing the need to develop innovative solutions to mitigate climate change and accelerate efforts to move the world economy down the path to net-zero emissions,” he says. 

Hyzon chairman and co-founder George Gu says the deal enables the global expansion of the company’s hydrogen fuel cell heavy vehicles.

“We are incredibly excited about the dynamic mobility category as municipalities and Fortune 100 companies are rapidly embracing hydrogen as the essential pathway to a net-zero economy.

“The number of countries cementing and then enhancing their national hydrogen strategies expands almost weekly, and we are extremely encouraged by both investor and public interest in the hydrogen economy,” Gu says. 

DCRB is itself a SPAC, or “blank check company”, which was formed for the purpose of effecting a merger or similar business combination to tackle decarbonisation. 

DCRB board chairman and Riverstone Holdings partner Robert Tichio says the team looks forward to working with Hyzon to advance the company’s mission of zero emissions. 

“As a differentiated, pure-play, hydrogen powered mobility company and an emerging leader in the trucking industry, Hyzon is a perfect match for DCRB’s investment criteria and represents a further expansion of Riverstone’s 15-year franchise in low-carbon investments.

“When forming this investment vehicle our objective was clear: to identify a truly exceptional company that is decarbonising the global economy, disrupting an established industry with the commercialisation of innovative technologies, and is well aligned with ESG principles. We found that company in Hyzon,” Tichio says.