Trump financier’s SPAC avoids liquidation after shareholders pass

Jan. 7 (Reuters) – Benessere Capital Acquisition Corp (BENE.O), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) led by former President Donald Trump’s business associate Patrick Orlando, won enough votes on Friday of its shareholders to avoid liquidation.

Benessere Capital extended its deadline for completing a merger from January 7 to July 7 after 65% of shareholders voted at a special meeting in favor of the transaction. It needed the extension after announcing an $ 805 million deal in November to merge with hydrogen fuel supplier eCombustible Energy Corp.

A vote to obtain the approval of the shareholders of Benessere Capital to merge with eCombustible has not yet taken place. Shareholders representing more than one million of Benessere’s 14 million outstanding shares have so far voted in favor of their repurchase, the company said at its extraordinary meeting of shareholders on Friday.

SPACs have often struggled to get retail investors to participate in the votes required to continue trading. This is because many of them are not used to attending shareholder meetings once they have bought a company’s shares on trading apps such as Robinhood.

When there weren’t enough Benessere Capital shareholders to vote in an attempt earlier this week, Orlando asked them to participate and held question-and-answer sessions on online forums such as Reddit. to spread the word.

Benessere Capital also asked the agent Morrow Sodali to contact individual investors by mail and by telephone.

Another Orlando SPAC, Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC.O) announced plans to merge with Trump’s new social media company in October. A shareholder vote on this agreement has not yet taken place.

Reporting by Krystal Hu in Toronto; Editing by Lincoln Feast.

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