Shell’s acquisition of charging company Volta helps tell a wider story about energy transition and challenges facing low-carbon companies that have recently gone public, Ben writes.
Catch up fast: Shell’s U.S. subsidiary is snapping up Volta — which went public via a 2021 SPAC deal — in a $169 million all-cash transaction, the companies said yesterday.
Why it matters: It’s the latest step in the diversification of oil giants and, in particular, European-headquartered majors moving into EV charging and power on multiple continents.
Zoom in: Shell’s various EV charging moves include acquiring Greenlots in 2019, BP has made multiple investments such as buying the big U.K. network Chargemaster, and U.S. giant Chevron is an investor in ChargePoint.
The intrigue: The Wall Street Journal points out that Volta is among the low-carbon energy companies that went public in the SPAC boom but have struggled since.
Shell’s purchase “could be part of an M&A spree that some analysts expect this year for beleaguered clean-energy firms” that went the SPAC route and are now running out of cash, it reports.