Irish businessman Gary Quin floats $220m Spac on Nasdaq
The Spac, called Columbus Circle Capital I, is backed by a New York-based boutique investment bank, Cohen & Company Capital Markets. At the end of last year, it had $2.3bn of assets under management, primarily in fixed income.
Columbus Circle Capital I is eyeing potential investment opportunities across a range of sectors, from artificial intelligence and healthcare to mining.
In early 2021, Mr Quin floated another Spac, the North Atlantic Acquisition Corporation, on the stock market in the US, raising almost $400m. However, it later returned all its cash to shareholders after failing to cement a merger deal.
Mr Quin joined Cohen & Company in 2023 as a special adviser after his previous tilt at securing a deal for his former Spac fell through. He is currently vice chairman of Cohen & Company and is serving as the chief executive and chairman of the new Spac.
Columbus Circle Capital I is using the proceeds of the Nasdaq flotation to target 'attractive and undervalued opportunities' in public and private markets across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
It also wants to identify companies that would benefit from redomiciling in the United States, where it says the targets would 'have greater capital access and reach a larger consumer base'.
'We believe that there are ample opportunities in our target industries, which include artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure, sports, media and entertainment, healthcare, energy transition, mining industries and cryptocurrency,' it has told potential investors. 'We believe these opportunities will be ameliorated by the ongoing benefits to global businesses in locating their operations and/or their public listing in the United States.'
Mr Quin will own virtually nil-cost founder shares in the Spac, which could mean that he is in a position to reap a significant return if he can cement a deal for the Spac. The firm will have an initial 24 months to do so. It can seek an extension from shareholders if it is unlikely to be able to consummate an investment during that timeframe.
Mr Quin is joined on the board of Columbus Circle Capital I by Garrett Curran. He is the former chief executive of Credit Suisse in the UK. Mr Quin worked for Credit Suisse between 2010 and 2019.
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