Arcane Crypto, a Norway-based investment company, said Thursday that it is planning to go public through a reverse takeover by Vertical Ventures, a publicly traded Swedish firm.
Vertical Ventures will buy Arcane Crypto for $33 million by issuing over 6.6 billion new shares. Each share cost $0.005 or half a cent, according to a statement released by the company on July 2.
Once the merger is completed, Arcane, which operates Arcane Research, will be listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market, where Vertical Ventures currently trades. Owners of Arcane will own 92.5% of the shares in the merged entity while the remainder goes to Vertical Ventures.
Both companies have signed a letter of intent pending finalization of the transaction, which is expected to be completed in the second half of 2020. Shareholders and Nasdaq North will have to approve the deal first.
Torbjørn Bull Jenssen, chief executive officer of Arcane Crypto, said listing creates “massive potential” and “interesting opportunities” for the digital asset firm.
“By going public we will expand our toolbox and position our self for further growth. In addition, our ecosystem approach and infrastructure focus will benefit from the opening up to a wider investor Base, ” said Jenssen.
A reverse takeover or reverse merger involves the acquisition of a public company by a private company. Some private firms prefer this route of going public because it eliminates the long and complex process of stock exchange listing associated with an initial public offering.
Arcane is made up of six business units, including cryptocurrency payment technology, crypto and digital assets liquidity provision, crypto-fiat exchange as well as a hedge fund.
Shares of Vertical Ventures soared by as much as 50% as the reverse merger news filtered through on
