On 6 December 2021, the Standard for SPACs at SIX Swiss Exchange entered into force. Effectively, from that date onwards, SPACs can be listed in Switzerland. The VT5 Acquisition Company AG (“VT5”) is the first SPAC to take advantage of this new framework through its Initial Public Offering (“IPO”) at SIX.
The VT5 IPO comprised the offering of 20’000’001 class A shares alongside 6’666’657 redeemable warrants, at CHF 10.00 per share plus 1/3 of a warrant per share. The class A shares (ticker symbol “VT5”) and redeemable warrants (ticker symbol “VT5W”) were offered as a package but can be traded separately immediately upon listing on 15 December 2021. At an issue price of CHF 10.00, the placement volume was CHF 200 million. At an opening price of CHF 10.20 per share, VT5 achieved a market capitalization of CHF 222 million, based on 21’764’707 shares listed.
Heinz Kundert, Chairperson of VT5, said: “We aim at unlocking a unique opportunity in the technology sector. VT5 as a platform is ideally suited to enable a company to take the disruptive path to the stock exchange via a SPAC framework. Our goal is to bring the next hidden champion from Central and Northern Europe with a focus on the DACH region and in particular on Switzerland to SIX and successfully continue to develop it further.”
Jos Dijsselhof, CEO SIX, emphasizes: “We are delighted to welcome VT5 to SIX so promptly after the new SPAC framework has entered into force. This SPAC IPO marks a milestone for Switzerland and we look forward to similar transactions of this kind next year. I wish VT5 every success in finding the suitable target businesses to take public on our exchange.”
More information about VT5 is available on www.vt5.ch.
Further information about the Standard for SPACs at SIX is available here.
The Directive on the Listing of SPACs can be accessed here.