OSLO, NORWAY: Carbon Transition ASA has made its third investment under its new strategy by investing NOK 40 million in CO2 Capsol AS and thereby supporting their pre-IPO financing round to accelerate CO2 Capsol’s growth.

The investment provides Carbon Transition with a 6.8% fully-diluted ownership in CO2 Capsol.

CO2 Capsol’s patented carbon capture technology has been developed since 2003 into an internationally leading solution based on the Hot Potassium Carbonate technology (“HPC technology”).

The HPC technology offers the uniqueness of not having to use amine in the carbon capture process which is attractive for HSE reasons. In addition, CO2 Capsol’s patented system offers an estimated 40% cost advantage relative to alternative processes. This is possible mainly due to their proprietary technology which re-uses energy in the carbon capturing process.

CO2 Capsol will license its technology to its customer base and it will actively cooperate with internationally leading EPCI companies which will conduct the engineering and construction of the carbon capture facilities. CO2 Capsol currently has one project under contract and is involved in more than 40 projects with different sizes and maturities. This is within industries such as waste-to-energy, cement, fossil power and steel.

In July 2021, Stockholm Exergi, Stockholm’s waste-to-energy company, announced that it has decided to start the front-end-engineering-and-design (FEED) phase for a bio-carbon capture facility at one of its heat and power plants, which will capture the emitted CO2. CO2 Capsol’s End of Pipe solution was selected as the carbon capture technology for Stockholm Exergi’s CO2 capture facility. In conjunction with this and after a competitive FEED evaluation which involved multiple global EPCI companies, Stockholm Exergi awarded the FEED contract to Petrofac for the CO2 capture facility.

Subsequent to the Stockholm Exergi selection process, Petrofac and CO2 Capsol announced that they had signed an agreement in September 2021, which enables collaboration for the sales and marketing of additional carbon capture projects worldwide.

 “The investment into CO2 Capsol marks the strategic entry into the carbon capture market for Carbon Transition. The investment offers Carbon Transition shareholders a very attractive exposure to a growth sector over the next decade with a very large global addressable market. CO2 Capsol with its unique low-cost system and HSE-friendly HPC technology, is a very attractive solution for the marketplace. We expect CO2 Capsol to be one of the leading international carbon capture technology companies, and create value for Carbon Transition shareholders” says Gisle Grønlie, Chairman of the Board for Carbon Transition.

 “We are delighted to welcome Carbon Transition as a leading investor into CO2 Capsol, supporting the expansion of CO2 Capsol’s business development initiatives. This funding round will help accelerate the growth of CO2 Capsol” says Jan Kielland, CEO of CO2 Capsol.

The private placement of shares in CO2 Capsol was done at NOK 11 per share, giving a post-money market capitalization of NOK 494 million based on current outstanding shares and NOK 590 million on a fully-diluted basis. CO2 Capsol is expected to have approximately 100 million in cash holdings after this financing round when contributions from expected warrant and option exercises are included. The company has no financial indebtedness. CO2 Capsol has announced that it expects to list its shares on Euronext Growth Oslo in the near term. We refer to CO2 Capsol’s corporate communication on this matter.

The investment in CO2 Capsol will be funded through available cash holdings. The proceeds from a contemplated private placement in Carbon Transition raising a minimum of NOK 35 million and a maximum of NOK 50 million in gross proceeds will strengthen the company’s cash holdings and ability to do new investments. The private placement will be directed towards a limited number of existing shareholders and new investors.

Carbon Transition has received undertakings from its majority shareholders, Middelborg AS, Tigerstaden AS, F2 Funds AS, Tiveden AS, Beck Asset Management AS, Ginny Invest AS, Philip Holding AS, Ballista AS, Q Capital AS and Livermore Invest AS, against a guarantee commission of 2%, to underwrite the minimum amount of the private placement with a subscription price not lower than NOK 1.30. The guaranteed minimum subscription price is at a premium to the closing price 11 October 2021 of 10.2%. The final subscription price will be set following a book-building process. It is expected that the private placement will be launched later this week. Carbon Transition has engaged SpareBank 1 Markets AS to assist with the private placement.

The investment in CO2 Capsol is the third and largest investment for Carbon Transition under its new strategy and makes the carbon capture market a strategic focus area for Carbon Transition. It takes the total investments of Carbon Transition in pre-IPO companies to just below NOK 100 million (including the value of a stock option agreement).

Thereby, Carbon Transition has succeeded in creating a significant investment portfolio in highly attractive companies within its strategic target markets. In addition, Carbon Transition has its legacy ocean bottom node seismic business (a business unit now classified as an investment in Carbon Transition’s corporate structure) which includes attractive OBN multiclient surveys in the North Sea (Norway) and the Gulf of Suez (Egypt) as well as an OBN contract seismic unit. This has laid a strong foundation for the future growth of the company.