(Bloomberg) — Swvl Holdings Corp., a Dubai-based mass transit startup, rose in its Nasdaq debut following a merger with blank-check firm Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital.
Shares gained as much as 9.8% to $10.30 on Friday. The deal originally valued the company at $1.5 billion, making Swvl one of the Persian Gulf’s few so-called unicorns.
Swvl announced plans in July to go public through a merger with all female-backed Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital. Swvl received $164.6 million of gross proceeds from the transaction, according to a statement.
Special purpose acquisition companies are facing waning investor sentiment after last year’s boom, with high redemption rates, pulled listings and sinking share prices underscoring the troubles facing the asset class. The Queen’s Gambit SPAC suffered a redemption rate above 80%, meaning the stock may be volatile with a lower number of shares available for trading.
And the performance of recent blank-check mergers has disappointed, with satellite maker Terran Orbital Corp. sinking 38% since going public on Monday. The De-SPAC Index, which tracks 25 such companies, is down more than 50% in the past 12 months.
Swvl has been growing across various markets via acquisitions, like that of Berlin-based mobility startup Door2door. It also bought a controlling stake in Latin American mass transit company ViaPool last year.
While few Middle Eastern companies have gone public via a SPAC, regional Spotify Technology SA rival Anghami Inc. made its debut this way in February. The stock has declined about 9% since it started trading in New York.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
