Pineapple Power Corporation is a proposed new cash shell, or Special Purpose Acquistion Company in US parlance, that is currently rasing money ahead of a London listing. The company has been incorporated with the view to acquiring at least one takeover target in the vanadium battery space.
Here at The Armchair Trader, we understand that the company’s management team has been looking at a number of opportunities in the renewable energy sector and have concluded that battery storage technology presents the most potential in terms of growth, profit and added value industry opportunities.
What are vanadium redox flow batteries?
Vanadium redox flow batteries are larger, renewable energy storage units that are capable of holding electricity generated from alternative energy sources like wind farms and solar farms. They are seen as very viable competitors to lithium ion batteries in the residential, commercial and grid back up area. Ultimately, we think they will be needed, and in large numbers, to help small communities and large consumers like hospitals, schools and factories to practically draw on the benefits of clean energy.
Clean energy and climate control are now inextricably linked, and development capital to meet these issues is attracting considerable level of investment in an industry that is expected to experience enormous growth in coming decades.
Vanadium flow batteries are expected to be a big factor – the flow battery market, valued at $187m in 2017, is expected to reach $946m by 2023. This represents a CAGR of 32.7% between 2018 and 2023. Unlike some other mineral markets, vanadium is also recyclable, and vanadium miners are able to lease the material out of battery makers. For more information on the vanadium flow battery market, check out our analysis of some of its dynamics.
Who are Pineapple Power?
Pineapple Power Corp says that, subsequent to its listing, the cash shell will be used to negotiate and acquire one or more opportunities in the vanadium battery sector specifically. The aim is to expedite the acquisition process to create maximum value for shareholders.
This SPAC is backed by an experienced management team that has an established track record in the mergers and acquisitions space.
Shares in Pineapple Power are available from a number of City of London brokers, including Axis Capital Markets, Peterhouse Capital and Pello Capital.
Cash shells or SPACs are proving a popular way to bring previously unlisted opportunities onto the stock market. In effect, they represent a reverse listing facility that removes many of the costs and delays in a traditional IPO. We recently saw Kevin Hartz, formerly a backer of the likes of Uber and Airbnb, list a SPAC on the New York Stock Exchange, after a $200m fund raising. The Armchair Trader recently took a closer look at the SPAC market.
