Hong Kong-based Diginex, a Blockchain and digital services platform, has closed a ‘reverse merger’ deal with 8i Enterprises Acquisition Corp to go public on Nasdaq. This so-called reverse merger is a nonconventional way of getting into the public markets and could be much faster than an IPO.
According to an announcement published Wednesday, Diginex has recently closed a $276 million share exchange deal with 8i Enterprises, which trades publicly on the US major exchange under the ticker JFK. This effectively makes Diginex a publicly listed firm without filing for an initial public offering (IPO) or meeting stiffer listing requirements.
Diginex CEO Richard Byworth said this transaction would increase their broader market visibility as the company plans to further roll out its global platform which includes exchange infrastructure, product offering, licenses and market expansion into key geographies around the world.
The reverse merger strategy has been already tested
Diginex operates mining operations in Asia, Switzerland, and Sweden and has offices in Hong Kong, Switzerland, Germany, and Japan. Its asset management arm, dubbed Diginex AM, holds two types of licenses from the HK securities watchdog. Earlier last year, Diginex acquired a 75% stake of Bletchley Park Asset Management (BPAM), a Jersey-regulated digital asset hedge fund.
"Upon the completion of this transaction, as a publicly-listed Nasdaq company, Diginex will continue to pursue its vision of leveraging blockchain technology for the disruption of financial intermediaries,” Miles Pelham, Chairman of Diginex, added.
Diginex isn’t the only crypto startup to test the reverse merger as many other companies used this strategy to go public instead of participating in an IPO.
Voyager, the New York-based crypto asset brokerage firm launched by Uber founder, has taken this route with the buyout of a publicly listed company on TSX Stock Exchange . Former hedge-fund manager Mike Novogratz also used the same tactic to list his crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital Holdings on a Canadian stock market.
