U.S. Trident Acquisitions Corp organized as special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) held an initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ stock exchange and raised $201.25 million. According to a posting on the company’s website, a total of 20.125 million units were sold at $10 per unit. Each unit consists of one share of common stock and a warrant to purchase one share of common stock. Both units and its parts could be traded. U.S. Chardan Capital Markets organized the deal.
Trident Acquisitions Corp COO Oleksiy Tymofeyev (former head of Smart-holding) wrote on his Facebook page that over 400 international investment funds took part in the placement.
The IPO for SPAC units foresees the placement of the raised funds on the account of a special trust until the object of the deal is identified (merger, acquisition, share exchange, purchase of shares and other transactions). The issuer intends to invest the raised funds in acquisition of energy assets in Eastern Europe with focus on Ukraine. “I want to build a large vertically integrated Eastern European corporation in the sphere of minerals with the center in Ukraine,” ex-Russian Duma Deputy and Trident Acquisitions Corp Director Ilya Ponomarev said in an interview with the Ekonomichna Pravda publication. He also does not rule out the purchase of assets in Northern America.
At present, Trident Acquisitions Corp is studying the assets for deals. Later, the company with which Trident Acquisitions Corp will merge would be traded on NASDAQ.
According to the offering memorandum, Trident Acquisitions Corp was founded in March 2016. Initially U.S. VK Consulting, Inc., under control of Russian investment banker Vadim Komissarov, bought all shares in the company.
In April 2016, 35% of shares were bought by Ponomarev, 5.35% – Patimat Akhmedova, 5% close relative of Mikheil Saakashvili – Timur Alazania, Komissarov has 5%, 0.8% each were bought by Tymofeyev, former coal industry minister of Ukraine Viktor Topolov and Head of U.S. McLarty Associates Edward S. Verona.
Then some deals were signed and the co-owner of Ukrainian ATB-Market retail chain Gennadii Butkevych became the holder of 10% of the company.
“They are my friends and acquaintances. They all have very different shares. Timur Alazania – he helps us with international relations as one of the leaders of the UN Secretariat in the past. Viktor Topolov left the shareholders before the IPO. Butkevych, he is one of the five members of the board of directors, but this is only about 3.5% of the total value of the company,” Ponomarev said.
