Blue Nile Inc. plans to become a publicly traded company following an agreement to combine with special purpose acquisition company Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corp. II.
Mudrick Capital MUDS, +0.10% has traded as a SPAC on the Nasdaq since Jan. 29, 2021, and terminated, “by mutual agreement,” plans announced in April 2021 to merge with trading card company Topps Co. Blue Nile has sold fine jewelry and diamonds online since 1999.
With an expected closing in the fourth quarter, the resulting company will be named “Blue Nile,” and retain Blue Nile Chief Executive Sean Kell and his management team.
Blue Nile and Mudrick said the deal is expected to raise $450 million before expenses, with $50 million in new funds from Mudrick and $80 million from sponsors Bain Capital Private Equity, Bow Street, and Adama Partners, and from Mudrick Capital.
Shares of the SPAC rose 0.1% to close at $10.07 Friday, for a market cap of $398 million, and were up 0.5% in the extended session. Shares of the SPAC are down nearly 16% over the past 12 months, compared with an 8% drop in the S&P 500 index SPX, -2.91%.