Indoor farming co AeroFarms drops plans to go public via SPAC merger

15-Oct-2021 - Last updated on 15-Oct-2021 at 16:19 GMT

Photo Credit: AeroFarms

Related tags AeroFarms indoor farming SPAC

Indoor farming pioneer AeroFarms and Spring Valley Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), have mutually agreed to terminate a previously announced agreement to take the company public.

The business combination and plan to take AeroFarms public via SPAC deal with Spring Valley Corp. were originally announced in March 2021. Under the deal, AeroFarms would have become a publicly-traded company on the NASDAQ.

Spring Valley shareholders voted to approve the merger in late August according to an 8-K form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

However, in a press release issued August 30, Spring Farm noted that, "As a result of redemptions by holders of Spring Valley’s Class A ordinary shares, the minimum cash requirement in Spring Valley and AeroFarms’ Agreement and Plan of Merger has not been satisfied."

In a statement issued yesterday (Oct 14), AeroFarms co-founder and CEO, David Rosenberg did not provide further details, but said:

“We made this decision to ensure that AeroFarms is in an optimal position to pursue our growth strategy and to deliver on our mission to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity. We believe proceeding with this transaction is not in the best interests of our shareholders. We have a great working relationship with Spring Valley and wish them well in pursuing their business.”

However, the decision to halt its original plan to go public has not hindered AeroFarms' growth plans, he insisted.

“Our business has tremendous momentum with strong retail distribution gains of our award-winning AeroFarms branded products, and we are looking forward to the additional scale and capacity from our Danville, Virginia farm, which is on-track for commercial production in mid-2022," said Rosenberg.

"We continue to build upon our distinct technology-driven competitive advantages with the opening of our AgX research and development facility in Abu Dhabi in first quarter of 2022, and operational expertise to grow innovative superior products with the quality, taste, and texture that are redefining the fresh produce industry.”