AeroFarms, the vertical farming company, agreed to go public through a merger with blank-check firm Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. The deal with the special purpose acquisition company gives the combined entity an equity value of about $1.2 billion, the companies said in a statement Friday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. It will be led by David Rosenberg, co-founder of AeroFarms, and trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker “ARFM.”
“AeroFarms has a technological edge on the industry, developing a world-class innovation team that has fueled a robust and growing intellectual property portfolio of patents and trade secrets,” Spring Valley Chief Executive Officer Chris Sorrells said in the statement. “Their team has been selling commercial product with major retailers, building a trusted brand that is performing well.”
Investors have committed $125 million to a private investment in public equity, or PIPE, offering to support the deal. The transaction will provide about $317 million of cash to AeroFarms to fund its future farm development, they said.
Source: BNN Bloomberg
By Gillian Tan