Verde Clean Fuels, Inc. Announces Closing of $50 Million Equity Investment by Cottonmouth Ventures, LLC, a Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of Diamondback Energy, Inc.
Verde Clean Fuels (NASDAQ: VGAS) has closed a $50 million equity investment from Cottonmouth Ventures, a subsidiary of Diamondback Energy. The investment involves the purchase of 12.5 million shares of Verde's Class A common stock at $4.00 per share. This marks Cottonmouth's second investment in Verde, bringing their total investment to $70 million and making them Verde's second-largest shareholder.
The proceeds will fund the development and construction of natural gas-to-gasoline production plants using Verde's patented STG+® process. These plants will utilize associated natural gas feedstock from Diamondback's Permian Basin operations. Following the investment, Verde expanded its Board of Directors to eight members, appointing Johnny Dossey, Cottonmouth's director designee, who currently serves as Vice President of Marketing at Diamondback.
Verde Clean Fuels (NASDAQ: VGAS) ha chiuso un investimento in equity di 50 milioni di dollari da Cottonmouth Ventures, una sussidiaria di Diamondback Energy. L'investimento prevede l'acquisto di 12,5 milioni di azioni ordinarie di Classe A di Verde al prezzo di $4,00 per azione. Questo segna il secondo investimento di Cottonmouth in Verde, portando il loro investimento totale a 70 milioni di dollari e facendoli diventare il secondo azionista più grande di Verde.
I proventi finanzieranno lo sviluppo e la costruzione di impianti di produzione di benzina da gas naturale utilizzando il processo brevettato STG+® di Verde. Questi impianti utilizzeranno gas naturale associato proveniente dalle operazioni di Diamondback nel bacino permiano. Dopo l'investimento, Verde ha ampliato il proprio Consiglio di Amministrazione a otto membri, nominando Johnny Dossey, il direttore designato di Cottonmouth, che attualmente ricopre il ruolo di Vice Presidente del Marketing presso Diamondback.
Verde Clean Fuels (NASDAQ: VGAS) ha cerrado una inversión de capital de 50 millones de dólares de Cottonmouth Ventures, una subsidiaria de Diamondback Energy. La inversión implica la compra de 12,5 millones de acciones de las acciones ordinarias de Clase A de Verde a 4,00 dólares por acción. Esto marca la segunda inversión de Cottonmouth en Verde, elevando su inversión total a 70 millones de dólares y convirtiéndolos en el segundo mayor accionista de Verde.
Los fondos se destinarán al desarrollo y la construcción de plantas de producción de gasolina a partir de gas natural utilizando el proceso patentado STG+® de Verde. Estas plantas utilizarán gas natural asociado de las operaciones de Diamondback en la Cuenca Pérmica. Tras la inversión, Verde amplió su Junta Directiva a ocho miembros, nombrando a Johnny Dossey, el director designado de Cottonmouth, quien actualmente se desempeña como Vicepresidente de Marketing en Diamondback.
Verde Clean Fuels (NASDAQ: VGAS)는 Diamondback Energy의 자회사인 Cottonmouth Ventures로부터 5천만 달러의 자본 투자 계약을 체결했습니다. 이 투자는 Verde의 A클래스 보통주 1,250만 주를 주당 4.00달러에 구매하는 것을 포함합니다. 이는 Cottonmouth의 Verde에 대한 두 번째 투자로, 총 투자액이 7천만 달러에 이르며 Verde의 두 번째 주요 주주가 되었습니다.
모금된 자금은 Verde의 특허 받은 STG+® 공정을 사용하여 천연가스를 통한 가솔린 생산 공장의 개발과 건설에 사용될 것입니다. 이 공장들은 Diamondback의 Permian Basin 운영에서 나오는 연관 천연가스 원료를 활용할 것입니다. 투자 후, Verde는 이사회를 8명으로 확대했으며, 현재 Diamondback의 마케팅 부사장으로 활동 중인 Cottonmouth의 지명 이사인 Johnny Dossey를 임명했습니다.
Verde Clean Fuels (NASDAQ: VGAS) a fermé un investissement en capital de 50 millions de dollars par Cottonmouth Ventures, une filiale de Diamondback Energy. L'investissement implique l'achat de 12,5 millions d'actions ordinaires de Classe A de Verde au prix de 4,00 dollars par action. Cela marque le deuxième investissement de Cottonmouth dans Verde, portant leur investissement total à 70 millions de dollars et faisant d'eux le deuxième plus grand actionnaire de Verde.
Les fonds serviront à financer le développement et la construction de plants de production d'essence à partir de gaz naturel utilisant le procédé breveté STG+® de Verde. Ces plants utiliseront des matières premières de gaz naturel associées provenant des opérations de Diamondback dans le bassin permien. Suite à cet investissement, Verde a élargi son conseil d'administration à huit membres, en nommant Johnny Dossey, le directeur désigné de Cottonmouth, qui est actuellement vice-président du marketing chez Diamondback.
Verde Clean Fuels (NASDAQ: VGAS) hat eine Eigenkapitalinvestition in Höhe von 50 Millionen Dollar von Cottonmouth Ventures, einer Tochtergesellschaft von Diamondback Energy, abgeschlossen. Die Investition umfasst den Kauf von 12,5 Millionen Aktien der Klasse A zum Preis von 4,00 Dollar pro Aktie. Dies ist die zweite Investition von Cottonmouth in Verde und erhöht die Gesamtsumme ihrer Investitionen auf 70 Millionen Dollar, womit sie zu Verdes zweitgrößtem Aktionär werden.
Die Einnahmen werden für die Entwicklung und den Bau von Produktionsanlagen für Benzin aus Erdgas verwendet, die den patentierten STG+®-Prozess von Verde nutzen. Diese Anlagen werden assoziiertes Erdgas aus den Betrieben von Diamondback im Permian Basin verwenden. Nach der Investition erweiterte Verde seinen Vorstand auf acht Mitglieder und ernannte Johnny Dossey, den designierten Direktor von Cottonmouth, der derzeit als Vizepräsident für Marketing bei Diamondback tätig ist.
- Secured $50 million equity investment at $4.00 per share
- Strategic partnership with major energy company Diamondback Energy
- Total investment from Cottonmouth reaches $70 million
- Secured feedstock supply from Diamondback's Permian Basin operations
- None.
Insights
The
This strategic investment is particularly noteworthy for three key reasons:
- The capital injection substantially strengthens Verde's balance sheet, providing important funding for commercialization of their STG+® technology and potential plant construction.
- Diamondback's increased stake, becoming the second-largest shareholder, provides both financial backing and strategic alignment with a major natural gas producer, ensuring feedstock supply security.
- The partnership creates a vertical integration opportunity, allowing Diamondback to monetize their Permian Basin associated gas while Verde gains a reliable feedstock source and established industry partner.
The deal structure, involving direct equity investment rather than project-level funding, demonstrates Diamondback's long-term commitment and confidence in Verde's business model. This arrangement provides Verde with flexible capital deployment options while maintaining operational control. The addition of Diamondback's marketing executive to Verde's board brings valuable downstream expertise and strengthens corporate governance.
This strategic partnership represents a pioneering approach to solving multiple industry challenges. Verde's STG+® technology addresses three critical issues in the energy sector:
- Provides an innovative solution for monetizing stranded and associated natural gas, particularly relevant in the Permian Basin where flaring remains a significant concern.
- Creates a pathway for producing lower-carbon fuels, aligning with increasing environmental regulations and ESG requirements.
- Offers potential flare mitigation benefits, which could help operators meet increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
The commercialization of natural gas-to-gasoline technology could be transformative for the industry, potentially creating a new paradigm for associated gas utilization. The partnership with Diamondback provides an ideal testing ground, combining Verde's innovative technology with real-world operational requirements and abundant feedstock supply.
This development suggests a shift in how major oil and gas producers view technology investments, moving beyond traditional upstream focuses to embrace innovative downstream solutions that can enhance operational efficiency and environmental performance.
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Cottonmouth purchases 12.5 million shares of Verde Class A common stock at a price of
$4.00 -
Brings Cottonmouth’s total investment in Verde to
$70 million - Proceeds from the investment are expected to be used to further the development and construction of potential natural gas-to-gasoline production plants and for other general corporate purposes
- In connection with the closing of the investment, Verde appoints a director designated by Cottonmouth to its Board of Directors
Proceeds from the investment are expected to be used to further the development and construction of potential natural gas-to-gasoline production plants and for other general corporate purposes. The proposed plants to be jointly developed by Verde and Cottonmouth would produce fully-refined gasoline utilizing Verde’s patented (STG+®) process from associated natural gas feedstock supplied from Diamondback's operations in the Permian Basin.
In connection with the investment, Verde expanded its Board of Directors from seven to eight members and appointed Johnny Dossey, as Cottonmouth’s director designee, to its Board of Directors.
"This investment is consistent with our commitment to efficiency and sustainability in oil and gas operations. Verde's technology provides an exciting opportunity to convert associated natural gas from our Permian Basin operations into gasoline, as well as an anticipated high value outlet for a volume of our natural gas with the added potential benefit of flare mitigation and production of a lower carbon fuel," said Mr. Dossey.
"We are proud and excited to announce the closing of Cottonmouth's second investment in Verde," said Ernest Miller, CEO of Verde. "Diamondback's continued confidence in our team and our technology is instrumental as we continue advancing our plans to deploy our technology. In addition, we are pleased to welcome Johnny as a director to our Board of Directors. We look forward to having him as part of our team as we look to finalize engineering and design and shift focus toward constructing and operating commercial production plants.”
Mr. Dossey currently serves as Vice President of Marketing at Diamondback and has been with Diamondback since 2018. Prior to Diamondback, Mr. Dossey served in marketing roles for Concho Resources from 2014 to 2018. Prior to
About Verde Clean Fuels, Inc.
Verde is a clean fuels company focused on the deployment of its innovative and proprietary liquid fuels processing technology through development of commercial production plants. Verde's syngas-to-gasoline plus (STG+®) process converts syngas, derived from diverse feedstocks, into fully finished liquid fuels that require no additional refining. Verde is currently focused on opportunities to convert associated natural gas into gasoline, which would provide a market for such natural gas with the added potential benefits of flare mitigation and production of gasoline with a lower carbon intensity than conventional gasoline.
About Diamondback Energy, Inc.
Diamondback is an independent oil and natural gas company headquartered in
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included herein, regarding Verde’s expectations and any future financial performance, as well as Verde’s strategy, future operations, financial position, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the intended use of proceeds. When used herein, including any oral statements made in connection herewith, the words “could,” “should,” “will,” "aims," “may,” “focused,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “plans,” “potential,” "goal," "strategy," "proposed," the negative of such terms and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. These forward-looking statements are based on Verde management’s current expectations and assumptions about future events and are based on currently available information as to the outcome and timing of future events. Except as otherwise required by applicable law, Verde disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statements, all of which are expressly qualified by the statements in this section, to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. Verde cautions you that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of Verde. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the investment; general economic, financial, legal, political and business conditions and changes in domestic and foreign markets; the failure to develop its first commercial facility, whether due to the inability to obtain the required financing or for any other reason; the failure to develop any additional commercial facility for any reason; the risks and uncertainties relating to the implementation of Verde's business strategy and the timing of any business milestone; Verde's ability to obtain financing in connection with future transactions; and the effects of competition on Verde's business strategy. Should one or more of the risks or uncertainties described herein and in any oral statements made in connection therewith occur, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and plans could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that Verde presently does not know or that Verde currently believes are immaterial that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning these and other factors that may impact Verde’s expectations and projections can be found in Verde’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Verde’s filings with the SEC are available publicly on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250129233935/en/
Investor Relations:
Caldwell Bailey (ICR)
verdeIR@icrinc.com
Media Relations:
Juliet Fisher (Merchant)
juliet@merchant.agency
Source: Verde Clean Fuels, Inc.
FAQ
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