Thor Industries announces strategic investment in Dragonfly Energy

One of the world’s leading RV manufacturers Thor Industries has announced a strategic investment in deep cycle lithium-ion battery producer Dragonfly Energy. Thor claims that the investment will help to enhance its focus on best-in-class user experience thanks to Dragonfly’s innovative approach to energy storage - including the development of battery packs, energy systems, and cell manufacturing technologies.

Bob Martin, president and CEO of Thor Industries, said: “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.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Denis Phares, CEO of Dragonfly, added: “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.”

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.

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