Have you ever heard of a SPAC? If not, you’re not the only one.
It’s a fairly new type of investment vehicle that is becoming more and more popularized. Investopedia describes it as a special purpose acquisition company, also known as a “blank check company” with the purpose of acquiring a private company, thus making it public without going through the traditional initial public offering process.
Although there’s been a boom in the space recently, they are still mostly being organized by men.
That’s why the recent announcement made by Anthemis Digital Acquisitions (ADA), a woman-led SPAC is so important. The company shared news of their closing of its initial public offering of 23,000,000 units at $10.00 per unit, which includes the exercise in full by the underwriters of their option to purchase up to 3,000,000 additional units. The units began trading on the Nasdaq Global Market (the “Nasdaq”) under the symbol “ADALU” commencing on Thursday, October 28, 2021.
Each unit consists of one share of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares and one-half of one warrant, each whole warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one share of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares at an exercise price of $11.50 per share. Once the securities constituting the units begin separate trading, we expect that the Class A ordinary shares and warrants will be listed on the Nasdaq under the symbols “ADAL” and “ADALW,” respectively.
Named after the first computer programmer and pioneer, Ada Lovelace, ADA is a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition corporation with a focus on acquiring a company in the digital financial services industry. ADA intends to focus its search in the area of digital financial services and on companies that reflect our core guiding principles of collaboration, virtuous cycle outcomes and a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusivity.
According to a news release, the ADA is a blank check company whose business purpose is to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to as our initial business combination. While the Company may pursue an initial business combination target in any industry, it currently intends to focus its efforts on identifying businesses in financial services, or the modern financial technology industry.
Barclays Capital Inc. (“Barclays”) and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (“Credit Suisse”) acted as book-running managers and representatives of the underwriters.