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A Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company focused on energy, digital assets and AI has raised $175 million in an initial public offering. To meet increased demand from SPAC investors, Dynamix Corporation III has opted to issue additional shares, with the final amount raised potentially reaching $201.25 million, people familiar with the matter told CNBC. The SPAC is led by executives with experience in blank check transactions and has hired advisors from commercial real estate firm Prologis to help find suitable acquisition targets, according to SEC filings. Executives at AI darling Nvidia are also helping find a deal, a person close to the company told CNBC. A SPAC (“blank check company”) is a shell company with no commercial activities. It was established for the sole purpose of raising capital through an initial public offering. The proceeds of that IPO, in this case up to $201.25 million, will be used to acquire private companies. SPAC managers typically have a set amount of time (often 18 to 24 months) to find a target and complete a merger. For privately held companies, this “de-SPAC” deal is an alternative to a traditional IPO and can offer a faster path to the public markets with a pre-negotiated valuation. Dynamix Corp III filed its intent to raise capital in August, and the SPAC stock began trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday under the ticker DNMXU. Dynamix is focused on capitalizing on the surging demand for power and data centers driven by the boom in artificial intelligence, the filing said. Target: $1 billion Reflecting strong investor demand, the $201 million in potential raised exceeds the initial target stated in SEC filings. The IPO was originally offered for $150 million in August and increased to $175 million in September, according to filings. Dynamix III plans to explore a merger target of more than $1 billion, one person close to the company told CNBC. To do this, Dynamics has appointed advisors including Ari Harandi, a data center investment expert at real estate giant Prologis, and Andrew Keyes, chairman of digital asset firm The Ether Machine, which Dynamics management previously took public through a second SPAC. The advisory group also includes Setaj Desai, who oversees global data center engineering and capacity planning for chipmaker Nvidia, and Houston energy investor Steve Webster, the people said. Desai and Webster did not immediately respond to requests for comment from CNBC. Are SPACs back? The launch of Dynamix III comes as the SPAC market is cautiously emerging from a sharp downturn. In the blank check boom of 2020 and 2021, hundreds of SPACs raised billions of dollars. According to Bank of America, there were nearly 800 SPAC deals in 2020 and 2021, compared to just 30 in 2023 and 50 in 2024. However, the stock price performance of companies that went public via SPAC during this period has been largely disappointing for public market investors. According to BofA’s analysis, less than one-in-ten SPAC deals had a positive stock price in the six and 12 months following the deal. BofA equity strategist Jill Carey Hall said in a note to clients earlier this year that factors contributing to the failure include concerns about the quality of the acquired companies and high valuations. Against this backdrop, Dynamics, led by CEO Andrejka Bernatova, a former investment banker and private equity executive, is conducting its third SPAC. Dynamix Corporation II raised $166 million last November and announced a merger agreement with The Ether Machine in July. The initial SPAC, named ESGEN, raised $276 million in 2021 and merged with a residential solar power company in March 2024 to form Zeo Energy. Cohen & Company Capital Markets acted as the sole investment bank underwriting Dynamix III’s IPO.
