THOR Industries announced that it has made a strategic investment in Dragonfly Energy, a leading deep cycle lithium-ion battery producer to the RV industry. Dragonfly’s innovative approach to energy storage - including the development of battery packs, energy systems, and cell manufacturing technologies – is distinctive in its focus on a best-in-class user experience. In May 2022, Dragonfly entered into a merger agreement for a business combination transaction with Chardan NexTech Acquisition 2 Corp. (Nasdaq: CNTQ).
“Our investment in Dragonfly furthers THOR’s dedication to continuously improving the user experience of THOR RVers by providing them a best-in-class energy storage solution that enables RVers to boondock and camp off the grid. Dragonfly has been a valued partner to one of our largest and most successful North American RV companies, Keystone RV, a THOR operating company. The proven success of the products in the field and synergistic value-add relationship made this investment an important one to us. Our alignment with Dragonfly is a natural fit to the evolution of our product lines that empower the owners of our companies’ RVs to Go Everywhere and Stay Anywhere™," offered Bob Martin, President and CEO of THOR Industries.
“As we discussed at our recent investor day, THOR is acutely focused on aligning with leading technology companies in the RV space. Dragonfly has demonstrated its leadership in the crucial Lithium-ion battery supply. The leadership team at Dragonfly has demonstrated the success of its operations model that focuses on inventory management and domestic production, thereby reducing supply chain risk. Keystone currently enjoys an exclusive relationship with Dragonfly for certain battery brands that, in time, will expand to an exclusive relationship across the entire family of THOR brands. In addition to a potential strong financial return on our investment, our equity position creates the opportunity for agreed exclusivity and co-development rights in RV industry-specific applications of lithium-ion energy storage solutions. The relationship also furthers our ESG commitment as Dragonfly’s patented all-solid-state cell technology is positioned to enable a more sustainable and reliable smart energy grid. As we forge ahead, our strategic partnership with Dragonfly will allow for meaningful engagement with its leadership to ensure long term alignment of a crucial element of our supply chain with THOR’s strategic vision and to provide one of many building blocks to a comprehensive aftermarket strategy,” added Todd Woelfer, THOR’s Chief Operating Officer.
“Dragonfly is thrilled to take this next step with THOR to solidify our long-term collaboration. Our experience working with THOR brands, particularly Keystone, has convinced us that this is the best downstream strategic partner for us. Not only is THOR’s commitment to the end user second to none, but this investment demonstrates THOR’s commitment to a much larger vision of energy sustainability. Together, we will continue to drive industry-best lithium-ion solutions, designed to improve the user experience of RVs. We look forward to being a key contributor to THOR’s future success,” explained Dr. Denis Phares, Chief Executive Officer of Dragonfly.
THOR’s equity investment has been completed and is being made ahead of Dragonfly’s previously announced business combination with Chardan NexTech Acquisition 2 Corp. (“CNTQ”) (Nasdaq: CNTQ). Funding of the business combination includes a $75 million senior secured term loan for which Energy Impact Partners is lead arranger, a $5 million equity investment from Chardan NexTech Investments 2 LLC, and a $150 million Chardan Equity Facility (ChEFTM) from Chardan, an affiliate of CNTQ's sponsor.
