Blockchain payment company Roxe to go public via $3.6 bln SPAC deal (updated)

CHI Special Acquisition

22/06/2022 03:43

(Changes sourcing, adds details about the deal)
    By Echo Wang
    June 21 (Reuters) - Blank check company Goldenstone
Acquisition Ltd  GDST.O  said late on Tuesday that it has
entered into a deal with blockchain-based payments company Roxe
Holding Inc to take it public for a combined enterprise value of
about $3.6 billion.
    The deal bucks an unfavorable market environment with
cryptocurrencies plunging in value and investors largely losing
interest in special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) of
this sort partly because of disappointing returns.
    Reuters had earlier reported about the deal, citing people
familiar with the matter. None of the Roxe investors plan to
sell their stakes, according to the sources. 
    Roxe stockholders will roll 100% of their equity into the
combined company and certain stockholders are entitled to an
earnout for additional shares in the combined entity if certain
stock price targets are met, Goldenstone said in a statement.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nGNX3LyRT7
    Goldenstone raised just $57.5 million in its initial public
offering in March this year, a slither of the deal's value.  
    Founded in 2019, Roxe connects banks, payment firms and
remittance companies, facilitating cross-border payments using
their private blockchain tokens. It does not use
cryptocurrencies, whose market value has been volatile.
    Bitcoin fell below $20,000 on June 18 for the first time
since December 2020. It has plummeted around 60% this year. The
overall crypto market has slumped to around $900 billion, down
from a record $3 trillion in November.  L1N2Y503U 
    This would be Roxe's founder Haohan Xu's second SPAC merger
this year after he agreed to take crypto exchange Apifiny public
earlier this year in a $530 million deal.
    About 600 SPACs that went public in the past couple of years
are still trying to complete deals, according to data from
Dealogic. A little over six months into 2022, 26 SPAC mergers
have been terminated in the United States, according to data
from industry tracker Spac Research. That compares with a total
of 18 in the whole of 2021, and 7 in 2020.
    Upon closing of the transaction, Goldenstone will be renamed
as Roxe Holding Group Inc and listed on the Nasdaq.

 (Reporting by Echo Wang in New York; Additional reporting by
Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Howard Goller and
Shailesh Kuber)
 ((E.Wang@thomsonreuters.com; +1 9172873971; Reuters Messaging:
E.Wang@thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))