Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (NYSE: BAM, TSX: BAM) and Canada
Growth Fund Inc. ("CGF") and Advantage Energy Ltd. (TSX: AAV)
("Advantage") today announce that CGF has entered into a strategic
investment agreement with Entropy Inc. ("Entropy" or the
"Company"), a Calgary-based developer of technologically-advanced
carbon capture and sequestration ("CCS") projects with the
potential to significantly reduce emissions in Canada and
worldwide.
CGF has agreed to a $200 million investment in
Entropy coupled with a fixed-price carbon credit purchase agreement
("Carbon Credit Offtake Commitment" or "CCO") of up to one million
tonnes per annum ("tpa"). This strategic growth partnership
represents an important new investment in Canadian carbon markets.
The features of the CCO—notably its large scale and its long-term
fixed-price—represent a global first in compliance markets. This
financeable structure helps to de-risk and accelerate private CCS
investment by establishing carbon price certainty for Canadian
projects.
"With its abundance of natural resources, access
to high-quality geological storage, and sophisticated engineering
know-how, Canada is the best place in the world to build a CCS
industry," said Patrick Charbonneau, President and CEO of Canada
Growth Fund Investment Management Inc. ("CGF Investment
Management"). "The CGF Investment Management team is pleased to
deliver this inaugural transaction in Alberta's carbon market, and
we look forward to putting additional capital to work across Canada
in the months ahead."
One pillar of CGF's mandate is to invest in
projects and technologies, including CCS, that hold significant
potential to reduce emissions across the Canadian economy. A second
pillar is to scale promising Canadian clean technology champions
that can help create value for Canadians.
"I am very proud of the investment, technical,
and execution expertise that the Canada Growth Fund Investment
Management team is bringing to the CGF mandate," said Deborah K.
Orida, President and CEO of Public Sector Pension Investment Board
("PSP Investments"). "CGF is able to deliver complex transactions
such as this thanks to PSP Investments' rigorous and established
processes and arm's length governance model."
Entropy aligns well with both aspects of CGF's
mandate: it is a Canadian-based CCS company with an innovative
technology solution and a skilled team of Canadian experts focused
on expanding the use of CCS technology in Canada and globally.
Entropy's modular CCS technology is relevant across Canada's
hard-to-abate industries, which represent an important challenge
and opportunity for Canada to tackle as it works towards its
emissions objectives.
"Entropy is excited to partner with CGF in
re-establishing Canada as a world-leading CCS market," said Mike
Belenkie, President and CEO of Entropy. "By creating a large-scale
CCO to guarantee long-term carbon pricing and adding $200 million
to our existing Brookfield funding for third-party projects,
Entropy has a clear path to accelerating growth and reducing
emissions, right here at home. While we will remain a global CCS
developer, we believe our projects are likely to advance much more
quickly in Canada than any other country in the world."
In March 2022, Entropy announced a strategic
$300 million investment agreement with Brookfield, via the
Brookfield Global Transition Fund, to scale up the deployment of
Entropy's CCS technology globally. Today's announcement builds on
this strong foundation and provides greater revenue certainty to
accelerate Entropy's major investments in Canada.
"Carbon capture and sequestration is a vital
technology for reducing emissions in carbon intensive sectors" said
Jehangir Vevaina, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer for
Renewable Power & Transition at Brookfield. "Our investment
agreement with Entropy was designed to accelerate the deployment of
this important technology in Canada and worldwide. We welcome the
additional capital and revenue certainty that the Canada Growth
Fund is providing to enable Entropy's success."
Transaction Highlights
Definitive agreements between Entropy and CGF to
accelerate the decarbonization of hard-to-abate industries in
Canada;
CGF to invest $200 million in Entropy for the
development of Canadian CCS projects and for corporate purposes
which, once fully drawn, could result in CGF owning approximately
20% of Entropy;
Brookfield will continue to invest the balance
of its existing $300 million hybrid security into the business, by
which point it would be the largest shareholder and control
Entropy;
CGF to provide the first ever large-scale,
long-term, fixed-price CCO in a compliance carbon market,
committing to purchase up to one million tpa of carbon credits for
15 years;
The initial allocation of CCO commitment will
allow Entropy to proceed with its Glacier Phase 2 project,
targeting the sale of up to 185,000 tpa of Alberta TIER carbon
credits at an initial price of $86.50 per tonne for a term of 15
years;
The balance of the remaining CCO will be
available for Entropy to underwrite additional third-party projects
on similar terms in Canada;
Post-investment, Entropy will have approximately
$460 million of capital available which, together with investment
tax credits, carbon capture incentives and project financing,
establishes a path to execute over $1 billion of CCS projects and
abate more than 1 million metric tonnes per annum ("MMTPA") of
emissions, with a focus on the Canadian market.
Deal Structure Overview
CGF's investment in Entropy is via a hybrid
security similar to the prior investment from Brookfield (please
see Entropy news release dated March 28, 2022), though at a
valuation that reflects the numerous advancements of the business
in the last two years. The flexible structure ensures access to
capital for Entropy and retains flexible liquidity options for all
major investors including Brookfield, CGF and Advantage (the
Company's controlling shareholder). Funding draws from Brookfield
and CGF for Canadian projects and corporate purposes will proceed
in tandem.
Coupled with the CGF investment, Entropy and CGF
have entered into a CCO agreement whereby CGF has committed to
purchase up to 9 million tonnes (up to 600,000 tpa over a 15-year
term) of TIER or equivalent carbon credits from Entropy projects.
The initial project to benefit from the CCO is intended to be
Advantage Glacier Phase 2, drawing up to 185,000 tpa at an initial
price of $86.50 per tonne, for a total of approximately 2.8 million
tonnes over the 15-year term. With this CCO agreement in place, CGF
has absorbed the carbon pricing risk for the project. Entropy is
therefore pleased to announce provisional final investment decision
of Glacier Phase 2.
Beyond Glacier Phase 2, CGF and Entropy intend
to enter into separate CCO agreements for other Canadian projects,
on terms that are expected to provide similar investment returns.
Upon successful deployment of the initial 600,000 tpa of CCO, CGF
may make available a further 400,000 tpa of CCOs for additional
Entropy Canadian CCS projects.
CGF will nominate one member to the Entropy
Board of Directors and is pleased to participate in the growth and
evolution of this Canadian clean technology leader. Advantage and
Brookfield will retain their existing Entropy board
representation.
About Entropy Inc Entropy was
founded by Advantage and Allardyce Bower Consulting Inc. in 2020
with the goal of developing world-leading technology for
post-combustion carbon capture. After partnering with University of
Regina to acquire breakthrough technology and developing further
advancements, Entropy designed and constructed the world's first
commercial natural-gas-fired CCS project (Glacier Phase 1), which
began capturing and storing carbon about 18 months ago. Entropy's
team has industry-leading capabilities in all aspects of the CCS
chain, including capture, compression, transportation, subsurface
storage, carbon finance, regulatory, carbon markets and commercial
structuring. This full-cycle approach allows Entropy to help third
parties that would otherwise not have the capacity to take on these
complex emissions-reduction investments. For further information,
please visit www.entropyinc.com.
About Canada Growth FundCGF is
a $15 billion arm's length public investment vehicle that will help
attract private capital to build Canada's clean economy by using
investment instruments that absorb certain risks in order to
encourage private investment in low carbon projects, technologies,
businesses, and supply chains.
CGF will make strategic investments to help
Canada to meet the following national economic and climate policy
goals:
a) reduce emissions and achieve
Canada's climate targets;
b) accelerate the deployment of
key technologies, such as low-carbon hydrogen and carbon capture,
utilization, and storage (CCUS);
c) scale-up companies that will
create jobs, drive productivity and clean growth across new and
traditional sectors of Canada's industrial base;
d) encourage the retention of
intellectual property in Canada; and
e) capitalize on Canada's
abundance of natural resources and strengthen critical supply
chains to secure Canada's future economic and environmental
well-being.
Further information on CGF's mandate, strategic
objectives, investment selection criteria, scope of investment
activities, and range of investment instruments can be found in the
technical backgrounder published by Finance Canada. You may also
visit www.cgf-fcc.ca.
About CGF Investment
ManagementIn Budget 2023, the Government of Canada
announced that PSP Investments, through a wholly owned subsidiary,
would act as investment manager for CGF. CGF Investment Management
has been incorporated to act as the independent and exclusive
investment manager of CGF.Note: PSP Investments has a passive
limited partner interest in the Brookfield Global Transition Fund
I, and ownership of Advantage's publicly traded common stock
through index replication and externally managed funds. The
foregoing is being disclosed in accordance with PSP Investments'
Conflicts of Interest Policy. For more information, see the
disclosure made under PSP Investments' Conflict of Interest Policy
below.
About Brookfield Asset
ManagementBrookfield Asset Management Ltd. (NYSE: BAM,
TSX: BAM) is a leading global alternative asset manager with over
$850 billion of assets under management across renewable power and
transition, infrastructure, private equity, real estate, and
credit. We invest client capital for the long-term with a focus on
real assets and essential service businesses that form the backbone
of the global economy. We offer a range of alternative investment
products to investors around the world — including public and
private pension plans, endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth
funds, financial institutions, insurance companies and private
wealth investors. We draw on Brookfield’s heritage as an owner and
operator to invest for value and generate strong returns for our
clients, across economic cycles.
About Brookfield
RenewableBrookfield operates Brookfield Renewable Partners
(NYSE: BEP, BEPC; TSX: BEP.UN, BEPC), one of the world's largest
publicly traded, pure-play renewable power platforms, with
approximately 31,800 megawatts of installed renewable energy
capacity and a development pipeline of approximately 143,400
megawatts of renewable power assets, 14 MMTPA of carbon capture and
storage, 2 million tons of recycled material and 4 million metric
million British thermal units of renewable natural gas production
annually.
For more information, please visit our website at
https://bam.brookfield.com or contact:
Communications &
Media:Kerrie McHugh HayesTel: (212) 618-3469Email:
kerrie.mchugh@brookfield.com |
|
Investor
Relations: Jason FooksTel: (212) 417-2442Email:
jason.fooks@brookfield.com |
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