Bioplastics maker Verde Bioresins Inc. is buying the majority of Nxu Inc., a supplier of electric vehicle charging stations.
After the merger, shareholders of Santa Monica, Calif.-based Verde will own 95 percent of the combined company. The remainder will be owned by shareholders in Mesa, Ariz.-based Nxu. In a news release, officials said Verde's pre-merger value was almost $307 million, with Nxu worth just over $16 million.
Verde had planned to go public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) TLGY Acquisition Corp., but that deal fell through. According to an SEC filing, Verde sent a termination notice regarding the deal to TLGY in March 2024. TLGY "agreed to a termination of the merger agreement, but disputed the grounds for the termination," TLGY officials said in the filing.
Verde co-founder and President Brian Gordon said in the release that his firm "is thrilled to merge with Nxu, a company at the forefront of sustainable solutions in transportation." He added that Verde "is poised for significant growth in 2025, and the business combination with Nxu is a critical milestone toward achieving that."
A Feb. 13 article in the Phoenix Business Journal said that Nxu began producing charging stations in Mesa in September 2023 but ended production sometime last year. The firm then auctioned off its EV battery manufacturing equipment.
The article added that Nxu lost $5 million in the third quarter of 2024 on sales of only $6,000. As of Sept. 30, Nxu had "an accumulated deficit" of $277.7 million, according to the article. The firm is publicly traded and its stock had a per-share price of 35 cents as of market closing Feb. 13.
Verde was founded in 2020 as a full-service bioplastics company specializing in sustainable materials, innovation and manufacturing with its PolyEarthylene-brand resin. Officials have said that PolyEarthylene is proprietary, bio-based, renewable and sustainable.
Officials also previously said PolyEarthylene is cost-competitive, scalable and versatile, and is a sustainable option for injection molding, film extrusion, blow molding and thermoforming, and applications such as rigid packaging.
The material can be produced in most of the forms and colors desired by prospective customers and can be dropped into existing standard manufacturing processes, they added.
Verde has made its materials at a plant in Fullerton, Calif., since 2019. The firm uses a combination of bio-based feedstocks and combines those materials with polyethylene, polypropylene or other resins.
Officials have identified materials firm Braskem SA of Brazil as "a strategic supplier" to Verde. In April, Verde launched a North American distribution deal with Vinmar Polymers America of Houston, which was looking to expand its sustainable materials lineup.
Gordon told Plastics News at the time that Verde's materials are shelf-stable and will biodegrade in landfills. He added that they are separate from existing polylactic acid (PLA) or polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) bioplastics.
Gordon also said Verde has three extrusion lines in Fullerton and that because of increasing demand, all three would be running by the end of 2024.
A March 2024 Packaging Dive article said Verde expected to have sales of $11.5 million in the 12-month period from July 2023 through June 2024.