Plug Power and South Korean SK Group to Form a Strategic Partnership to Accelerate Hydrogen Economy Expansion in Asian Market...
January 06 2021 - 5:00PM
Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG), a leading provider of hydrogen fuel
cell and fueling solutions enabling e-mobility, and SK Group, one
of the leading South Korean business groups, announced today that
the companies intend to form a strategic partnership to accelerate
hydrogen as an alternative energy source in Asian markets. Through
this partnership, Plug Power and SK Group intend to provide
hydrogen fuel cell systems, hydrogen fueling stations, and
electrolyzers to the Korean and broader Asian markets. In
conjunction with this partnership, the companies have also entered
into a definitive agreement for SK Group to make a $1.5 billion
strategic investment in Plug Power and are announcing a plan to
form a joint venture company in South Korea to support the rapidly
growing Asian Market. The combination of SK Group’s significant
presence and leadership throughout Asia’s energy industry and its
strategic direction on portfolio transformation to green via
hydrogen economy with Plug Power’s leadership in hydrogen fuel cell
systems, fueling stations and green hydrogen generation represents
a powerful team to accelerate the growth of hydrogen economy in
Asian markets.
In January 2019, the South Korea government announced the
Hydrogen Economy Roadmap through 2040, with ambitious goals,
including: over 5MM tons of hydrogen per year, over 6MM fuel cell
EVs, 1,200 refilling stations and 15 GW of fuel cell power
generation, and expects the cumulative economic value of its
hydrogen economy to reach ~$40Bn by 2040. Plug Power has proven its
ability to scale a hydrogen business in North America as a global
leader in the hydrogen economy. The opportunity to partner with SK
presents an attractive and timely opportunity to establish a
foothold in this market with one of South Korea’s leading
industrial conglomerates,
“SK Group has an established strategy for building out the
hydrogen economy in South Korea and beyond,” said Andy Marsh, CEO
for Plug Power. “The current relationship with SK Group offers
immediate strategic benefits to Plug Power to accelerate its
expansion into Asian markets - and is intended to result in a
formal joint venture (JV) by 2022. Due to the complementary
strengths in this partnership, we expect rapid growth and
significant revenue generation from the joint venture that are
incremental to our 2024 plan.”
“Plug Power is a leading player in the hydrogen industry with
decades of experiences and distinguished business model,” said
Hyeongwook Choo, Head of Hydrogen Business Development Center of SK
Holdings and president & CEO of SK E&S, a leading clean
energy company engaged in renewable energy, LNG, and power plant
businesses across the globe and a subsidiary of SK Holdings. “This
partnership between Plug Power and SK will bring significant and
solid opportunities in the hydrogen industry, creating value to
society. SK Group is focusing and actively investing into the ESG
sector and Plug Power would be one of our splendid footprints
within this strategy.”
This investment represents the largest U.S. clean energy PIPE in
the last 20 years (based on the PrivateRaise PIPE database for
transactions that have closed and includes common stock, preferred
stock, convertible preferred stock and convertible debt).
Additional details of the investment include:
Terms
Under the terms of the investment, a US subsidiary of SK Group
will make a $1.5 billion investment in Plug Power by acquiring
approximately 51.4 million shares of common stock at a price of
$29.2893 per share, the 30-day VWAP as of January 5th, 2021 at a
zero percent discount. The investment is expected to represent an
approximate 9.9% pro forma ownership stake in Plug Power.
Timing
The investment transaction is subject to customary closing
conditions and regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in
the first quarter of 2021
Advisors
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is serving as Financial Advisor and
Goodwin Procter LLP is acting as legal advisor to Plug Power.
About Plug Power
Plug Power is building the hydrogen economy as the leading
provider of comprehensive hydrogen fuel cell turnkey solutions. The
Company’s innovative technology powers electric motors with
hydrogen fuel cells amid an ongoing paradigm shift in the power,
energy, and transportation industries to address climate change and
energy security, while meeting sustainability goals. Plug Power
created the first commercially viable market for hydrogen fuel cell
technology. As a result, the Company has deployed over 40,000 fuel
cell systems for e-mobility, more than anyone else in the world,
and has become the largest buyer of liquid hydrogen, having built
and operated a hydrogen highway across North America. Plug Power
delivers a significant value proposition to end-customers,
including meaningful environmental benefits, efficiency gains, fast
fueling, and lower operational costs. Plug Power’s
vertically-integrated GenKey solution ties together all critical
elements to power, fuel, and provide service to customers such as
Amazon, BMW, The Southern Company, Carrefour, and Walmart. The
Company is now leveraging its know-how, modular product
architecture and foundational customers to rapidly expand into
other key markets including zero-emission on-road vehicles,
robotics, and data centers. Learn more at www.plugpower.com.
Safe Harbor StatementThis communication
contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve
significant risks and uncertainties about Plug Power Inc.("PLUG"),
including but not limited to statements about PLUG's expectations
regarding the planned joint venture with SK, including when and if
the joint venture will occur, the scope and terms of the joint
venture and the potential growth and revenue related to the planned
joint venture, the expansion into Asian markets, and the expected
timing of the closing of the investment transaction . You are
cautioned that such statements should not be read as a guarantee of
future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate
indications of the times that, or by which, such performance or
results will have been achieved. Such statements are subject to
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or
results to differ materially from those expressed in these
statements. For a further description of the risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those
expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks
relating to the business of PLUG in general, see PLUG’s public
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the
“Risk Factors” section of PLUG’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2019 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for
the quarters ended March 31, 2020, June 30, 2020 and September 30,
2020. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are made
as of the date hereof, and PLUG undertakes no obligation to update
such statements as a result of new information.
SOURCE: PLUG POWER
Media ContactIan MartoranaThe Bulleit
Groupplugpowerpr@bulleitgroup.com
Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024