The price of Kenes Rakishev's Oxus company amounted $150 million as it enters NASDAQ

OXUS SPAC will accumulate green energy companies 11.Sep.21 8:35 AM By Shawn Highstraw Photo SPAC    2034

Created by businessman Kenes Rakishev in partnership with a number of investors Oxus Acquisition Corp was listed at the NASDAQ stock exchange. The total price of the initial public offering is $150 million. Oxus Acquisition Corp. is a so-called SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) — a company created for the purpose of merging, exchanging or buying shares, acquiring some assets or participating in a combined business. This way of acquiring companies are increasingly popular among stock market professionals. Kenes Rakishev's company will hunt for energy assets, new technologies, producers of materials for batteries, manufacturers of energy storage devices, electric transport infrastructure developers and advanced waste processing technologies in Eastern Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa regions. According to the rules of the Securities Commission (SEC), SPAC shares are placed at a fixed price of $10. The management collects investors' money and borrowed funds to invest in the acquisition of one or more private companies within a year and a half. At the same time, SPAC is obliged to spend at least 80 percent of the collected funds on one specific asset. Kenes Rakishev, through Oxus Capital PTE, owns 94 percent of the newly created company. It is planned that after the IPO round he will be left with 19.3 percent portfolio. The independent directors of Oxus own minority stakes. Those are: Shiv Vikram Khemka from the Indian Sun Group; Christophe Charlier is known in for his work in the Onexim Group and Renaissance Capital; and Sergey Ivashkovsky. The later is the founder of Eurasia Investment Partners, who worked earlier at Trust Bank, Rusnano, Gazprombank, Prosperity Capital and East Capital. In parallel with the market placement, Kenes Rakishev, the founder of Oxus, will contribute personal funds to the company as part of a private investment. Many well-known business giants entered the market through such SPAC companies. Richard Branson's space tour operator Virgin Galactic entered the public trading with the help of a SPAC. In October 2019, venture investor Chamat Palihapitiya, through SPAC Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings, bought 49% of Virgin Galactic's securities for $800 million. And by February 2020, Virgin Galactic's share price has increased by 255%. Another successful example is the DraftKings gaming company, which was valued at about $3.3 billion through a merger with SPAC Eagle Acquisition and SBTech as part of the transaction. At the same time Oxus SPAC which enters NASDAQ stock exchange is one of the first examples of combining experienced financiers and businessmen from the CIS countries to attract investors' funds. Kenes Rakishev, a businessman from Kazakhstan, already has a successful experience of investing in technological startups. Fincraft Holding, where Rakishev is the president, owns several successful companies in the field of energy technologies. "We believe that companies working in the field of alternative energy will grow significantly in the coming years," Mr. Rakishev commented on occasion of the listing of Oxus at NASDAQ.

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