CSP Player Heliogen Rounds off 2021 With Completion Of Merger With Athena

For California-based Heliogen Inc., a provider of AI-enabled concentrated solar power, 2021 has been an exciting year, peppered with attractive investments from and valuable collaborations with major companies, especially in the mining and metals industry.

Founded in 2013, Heliogen aims to alleviate the intermittency issues of renewable power generation sources. Its technology is designed to flatten the power generation curve by using concentrated solar power with storage to increase the availability of energy to industrial customers.

In March last year, global mining and metals company Rio Tinto signed an MoU to procure Heliogen’s solar technology for deployment at Rio Tinto’s borates mine in Boron, California. Heliogen’s high-temperature solar technology is designed to cost-effectively replace fossil fuels with sunlight for a range of industrial processes, including those used in mining.

A couple of months later, in June, Luxembourgish steel major ArcelorMittal announced an initial investment of $10 million from its innovation fund in Heliogen. Hydrogen sits at the heart of ArcelorMittal’s Innovative-DRI technology pathway, which involves using hydrogen instead of natural gas as the reductant in the production of direct reduced iron, the steel company said.

Additionally, last year, Heliogen managed to raise $108 million in two funding rounds to accelerate the global deployment of its Sunlight Refinery™. A turnkey concentrated solar energy system, it aims to make carbon-free energy for high-temperature heat, power, and green hydrogen accessible and more cost-effective than fossil fuels for the first time, the company stated.

The final icing on the scrumptious cake that 2021 has proved to be for Heliogen appeared in the year’s tail end. The company has completed its business combination with Athena Technology Acquisition Corp (ATHN), with the new firm being called Heliogen Inc. as well.

The transaction was unanimously approved by ATHN’s Board of Directors and was approved at a special meeting of ATHN stockholders on December 28, 2021, said an official statement.

Commencing at the open of trading on December 31, 2021, Heliogen Inc.’s Class A common stock and Heliogen Inc.’s warrants are expected to commence trading on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbols “HLGN” and “HLGNW,” respectively.

Further, the transaction resulted in approximately $188 million of cash to Heliogen’s balance sheet, comprised of both funds from ATHN’s former trust account and a private investment in public equity (PIPE). The PIPE is anchored by funds and accounts managed by Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley), Salient Partners, Saba Capital, and the XCarb Innovation Fund of ArcelorMittal.

In addition to the proceeds from this transaction, there will be a conversion to common shares of $83.4 million in SAFE financing upon closing of the business combination.

Heliogen Inc. will use the proceeds to scale heliostat manufacturing, to support research and development efforts on next generation heliostat technology, to support global project development, and to fund the balance sheet.

Bill Gross, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Heliogen, commented: “Powering the planet with renewable energy is not only critical to fighting climate change – it is also the biggest economic opportunity in history. The capital raised in this transaction will fund our accelerated growth and help us to globally scale our game changing AI-enabled concentrated solar power technology.”

Phyllis Newhouse, former CEO of Athena Technology Acquisition Corp. and member of the Heliogen board of directors, commented: “Our original mission at Athena was to work with thought leaders and technology innovators whose pioneering solutions will support both industry and society. With the closing of our business combination today, we’re moving one step closer to a healthier world where fossil fuels are replaced by cleaner sources of power.”

For Heliogen’s final favourable business agreement of 2021, Barclays is providing it with financial advisory services, while Cohen & Company Capital Markets (a division of J.V.B. Financial Group, LLC) is serving as a financial advisor to Athena.