Staff
On Friday, the newest cannabis SPAC Achari Ventures Holdings Corp. I announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 10,000,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit. The units are expected to be listed on the Nasdaq Global Market and trade under the ticker symbol “AVHIU” beginning October 15, 2021.
Achari Sponsor Holdings I LLC is an affiliate of Achari Ventures and is led by Vikas Desai, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors; Mitch Hara, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer; and Merrick Friedman, Chief Investment Officer, and Director. The rest of the all-male team includes Mark Pelson, Seth Farbman, Kevin K. Albert, Harry DeMott, and Tim Seymour. Achari Ventures said it will be focused on the cannabis industry. Hara was Head of Mergers & Acquisitions and Business Development at Clever Leaves International, Inc. (formerly known as Northern Swan Holdings) (NASDAQ: CLVR) from 2019 to 2020, where he was responsible for all of the company’s investments, acquisitions and business development efforts.
“Our team has been an active and early participant in the cannabis industry, having identified, early on, its significant potential for explosive growth,” said Vikas Desai, Chief Executive Officer of Achari. “We believe a unique opportunity exists to partner with an established and successful company in the space, leveraging our capital, industry and operating expertise to rapidly scale its business as the cannabis regulatory environment matures.”
Like other SPACs, Achari will be looking for acquisition opportunities with an ancillary (non-plant touching) company in the cannabis industry, including equipment, hardware, technology/software, or hydroponics. They are looking for a company doing at least $50 million of revenue with a clear pathway to $200 million over five years. The group also said in its SEC filing that it prefers the smaller size of the SPAC because the larger size has a limited amount of targets.
Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase three-quarters of one share of common stock at a price of $11.50 per share. Because the warrants may only be exercised for whole numbers of shares, only a number in multiples of four warrants may be exercised at any given time. Once the securities comprising the units begin trading separately, the Company expects that the common stock and redeemable warrants will be listed on the Nasdaq under the symbols “AVHI” and “AVHIW,” respectively.
Chardan is serving as sole book-running manager. Reed Smith LLP acted as counsel to the Company, and White and Williams LLP acted as counsel to Chardan. The company has granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,500,000 units at the initial public offering price to cover over-allotments, if any.
