Vancouver, BC/Atlanta, /GA, February 2, 2021 – Svante Inc. and Chart Industries Inc. (‘’Chart’’) (NYSE: GTLS), a leading global manufacturer of liquefaction and cryogenic equipment for the energy and industrial gas markets, have entered into a binding commercial Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”). The MOU establishes how the companies will explore commercial opportunities as channel to market preferred partners and collaborate to develop an integrated carbon capture solution using Svante’s rapid adsorption technology and Chart’s cryogenic carbon capture technology to make high-purity CO2 products from industrial flue gas streams. The MOU was executed in conjunction with the completion of Chart’s investment in Svante in the amount of $15 million representing under 10% of its capital stock on a fully diluted basis. The investment was done as part of Svante’s Series D offering which closed on February 1, 2021.
‘’Value chain partnerships with leaders like Chart have been an important part of our commercialization strategy and integral to our success marketing world-leading competitive carbon capture solution’s,’’ said Claude Letourneau, President & CEO of Svante Inc. ‘Chart offers a great range of products and services in the CO2 cryogenic separation and liquefaction space complementary to our carbon capture proprietary equipment.
“Yesterday’s investment in Svante and the acquisition of Sustainable Energy Solutions Inc. (SES) further builds partnerships to create a one-stop solution for those looking for integrated technology and equipment for carbon capture and direct air capture, liquefication and transport of CO2’’ said Jill Evanko, President & CEO of Chart Industries Inc. ‘’Our air-cooled heat exchangers, brazed aluminum heat exchangers, IPSMR© refrigeration/liquefaction system and cryogenic storage/transport equipment are a significant part of the balance-of-plant within carbon capture, utilization and storage (‘’CCUS’’) projects.’’
As a value-added reseller, Svante will be part of the sales channel of Chart OEM business in CO2 products. This will allow both organizations to standardize related process equipment and offer market competitive integrated solutions to streamline the contracting process. The carbon-capture facilities will employ Svante’s solid sorbent technology to capture carbon directly from industrial post-combustion flue gases as a non-intrusive ‘’end-of-the-pipe’’ solution to produce pipeline-grade CO2 for safe transportation and storage. Additionally, there is a significant synergy potential to integrate Chart’s SES Carbon Capture Technology (“CCC”) with Svante’s technology, creating an even more cost competitive solution while obtaining or maintaining the highest purity of CO2 (99.99%).
Chart’s investment furthers access to commercial projects underway and new opportunities in the North American carbon capture market. For example, Chart will benefit from Svante’s technology currently being deployed in the field at pilot plant-scale by industry leaders in the energy and cement manufacturing sectors. The CO2MENT Pilot Plant Project – a partnership between LafargeHolcim and TOTAL S.A. – is operating a 1 tonne per day plant in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada that will re-inject captured CO2 into concrete, while the construction and commissioning of a 30 tonne per day demonstration plant was completed in 2019 at an industrial facility in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, Canada. A 25 tonne per day demonstration plant is currently under design and construction at Chevron U.S.A. located near Bakersfield, California. In conjunction with this investment, the commercial trends from Chart’s recent acquisitions of SES, Worthington hydrogen trailers, Worthington microbulk and BlueInGreen and our strong fourth quarter 2020 order book (record backlog of $810 million), Chart anticipates increasing 2021 guidance on our year-end 2020 earnings call which is scheduled for February 18, 2021 at 9:30am eastern time. Chart’s fourth quarter of 2020 was a very strong free cash flow generating quarter. December 31, 2020 net leverage ratio was 1.72. December 31, 2020 pro forma net leverage ratio including the $15 million Svante investment is 1.79.
