Expion360 made lithium batteries for RVs and boats. On Sunday it said it had bought an oil and gas prospect in Louisiana, renamed itself, and replaced its chief executive.
The company, now called Expion Energy, paid about $3.4 million for a drill-ready prospect in Eastern Louisiana covering roughly 3,000 leased acres. An existing wellbore came with it. Under an exploration agreement signed at the same time, a new lateral wellbore must be drilled by February 2027.
For shareholders, the pivot brings two immediate facts: the company is entering a business it has not previously operated, and the financing that made the acquisition possible carries conversion rights at a discount to where the stock now trades.
Shares closed 80.49% higher at $6.2000 after the announcements, on dollar volume of about $645 million.
The $9 million raise used 8% convertible debentures that will become preferred stock, convertible into common shares at $4.25 each. Because that conversion price sits below the current share price, each share created through conversion is issued at a discount — and every new share makes the ones already outstanding a smaller piece of the same company. The investors who provided the initial $9 million also have the option to put in up to $91 million more on similar terms, pending shareholder approval.
The lead investor is Five Narrow Lane LP, a fund affiliated with Joseph Hammer. Hammer resigned as chief executive the same day the deal closed and now serves as interim chairman. The company says its disinterested board members approved the placement.
Kevin Sellers, the new chief executive effective August 24, founded Cynergy, an oil and gas advisory firm, in 2009, according to the company's release. The company says the prospect sits near Gulf Coast infrastructure and analog formations in the same regional trend. Neither release disclosed a resource estimate.
What the prospect holds, the company has not said.