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Australian trading and wealth management technology provider Openmarkets Group Pty Ltd has entered into a plan of merger and business combination agreement with Lake Superior Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company on Nasdaq. The transaction will result in Openmarkets Group becoming a Nasdaq-listed company.
The transaction is expected to complete in 2026, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals and customary closing conditions. The terms represent an estimated enterprise value of Openmarkets of USD$300 million, not including earn-out shares issuable pursuant to the business combination agreement.
The transaction coincides with the launch of Openmarkets' strategy to expand into decentralised finance through cryptocurrency trading and real-world assets tokenisation, as well as offering its technology and services internationally.
Openmarkets' digital assets strategy will initially focus on offering secure and compliant fractionalisation of real-world assets such as funds, real estate, private equity and private credit, as well as integrating cryptocurrency trading into its existing trading technology platform. To enable a DeFi offering, Openmarkets has commenced building an ecosystem of local and global partnerships and reviewing its regulatory authorisations.
Dan Jowett, Chief Executive Officer, Openmarkets Group
Dan Jowett, Chief Executive Officer, Openmarkets Group, said:
"This transaction will provide a myriad of benefits to Openmarkets as we pursue our open finance strategy, opening up new sources of capital and onboarding new, strategically-aligned investors whilst giving Openmarkets a US market presence."
"Tomorrow's capital markets will be defined by the convergence of traditional and decentralised finance, and there's enormous commercial potential for trusted fintechs to invest in compliant and secure infrastructure solutions that bring tokenised assets into our traditional financial system. Openmarkets is ready to deliver on this opportunity."
Edward Cong Wang, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Lake Superior Acquisition Corp
Edward Cong Wang, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Lake Superior Acquisition Corp, said:
"The combination with Openmarkets is the culmination of an exhaustive search for a market leader poised for explosive global growth. Through this transaction, we are providing the public market platform necessary for them to accelerate their expansion into new geographies and further their ambition to build the future of open finance through DeFi."
Lake Superior Acquisition Corp is a Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company, incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger or business combination with one or more businesses. As part of the transaction, Openmarkets Group will retain its current management team and business structure.
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