Filed by
Ares Acquisition Corporation and X-Energy Reactor Company, LLC
Pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
and deemed filed pursuant to Rule 14a-12
under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
Subject Company: Ares Acquisition Corporation (File No. 001-39972)
The following is a transcript of a video interview of Jim Fitterling, Chief Executive Officer of Dow Inc. by Sara Eisen and Carl Quintanilla, of CNBC, made
available on May 12, 2023, at
https://www.cnbc.com/video/2023/05/12/dow-ceo-jim-fitterling-on-advanced-nuclear-reactor-project-in-texas.html.
Sara Eisen (CNBC) (00:01):
Okay, lets turn now to
a different kind of energy. Dow Chemical announcing one of its plans in Texas will soon be going nuclear with plans for a reactor project to eliminate carbon emissions at the nearly 5,000 square foot manufacturing facility construction expected to
start in 2026. Joining us now is Dow CEO Jim Fitterling. Jim, thanks for joining us.
Jim Fitterling (Dow) (00:23):
Good morning, Sara. Thanks for having me.
Sara Eisen (CNBC)
(00:25):
Good morning. This is really interesting. When I think of nuclear plants, I think of powering electricity for a city or more. I dont
necessarily think of it as powering it for a plant. Is this a new concept?
Jim Fitterling (Dow) (00:41):
Well, we are pleased to be working with X-energy. Our partner under the DOEs Advanced Reactor Demonstration
Program to bring advanced nuclear or small modular nuclear reactors into industry. This will be first of its kind in industry to basically take our power and steam production at the Seadrift Texas site completely to nuclear and we chose X-energy because their technology allows us not only to generate the electricity we need at the site, but to generate high pressure steam and most of industry, our industry in particular, but many materials
industries require a lot of process heat and steam as much as they do electricity.
Sara Eisen (CNBC) (01:25):
I also found it interesting because nuclear is sort of out of vogue, Jim, and there are all sorts of safety concerns that I think people think of. Germany just
last week shut down the last three nuclear plants. I know its a controversial decision, but was it tough to get Department of Energy on board with this?
Jim Fitterling (Dow) (01:45):
Well, this is a whole new
nuclear application thats coming out. These advanced, small modular reactors will be the future of safe, reliable baseload power. One of the challenges that you can see happening in the country right now from California, even Texas up and down
the East Coast is were starting to have times of day where youre starting to have power outages and thats because weve taken out baseload power and replace it primarily with wind and solar. Were big advocates of wind
and solar and we use a lot of wind and solar, but we need 24/7 reliable power. Power needs to be sustainable, reliable and affordable and thats where we think new nuclear fits.