Chilean fruit and nut exporter combines with Rose Hill Acquisition Corporation with the intention of becoming listed on the Nasdaq
Rose Hill Acquisition Corporation and leading Chile-headquartered fruit and nut exporter Prize have entered into a definitive business combination agreement that is expected to result in Prize becoming a US publicly listed company with an initial enterprise value of approximately US$425m.
The proposed transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023 and is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
As a result of the business combination, Prize and Rose Hill shareholders will exchange their shares for shares in a new combined company, which is expected to be publicly listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbols PRZE and PRZE WS, respectively.
The combined company is set to become the first Chilean enterprise to initially list directly on a US exchange.
Additionally, Rose Hill has entered into a definitive US$150m Standby Equity Purchase Agreement with Yorkville Advisors as an additional equity financing source for future opportunistic expansion for the combined company.
Prize will use the proceeds of the business combination to invest in its growth strategy, targeting expansion in new regions through partnerships, organic growth and acquisitions to achieve year-round production.
Prize’s Peruvian operations focus on blueberries and it plans to commit a substantial portion of the proceeds from the proposed business combination towards acquiring and cultivating additional land to maximise strong consumption trends in the market and shifting consumer tastes towards higher-quality fruits.
“Over the last 16 years, we have developed Prize into a global company providing quality, nutritious fruits to tens of millions of people in over 30 countries to feed the world. The next stage of accomplishing this goal starts with expanding the global palette for superfruits by producing new, tastier varieties targeting differentiated consumers in the nascent Chinese market alongside more mature markets like the US,” said Alejandro García-Huidobro, founder and chief executive of Prize.
“The team at Rose Hill shares our vision of creating a global superfruits platform utilising innovative technologies and production systems to improve our operations across the value chain and increase our fields’ productivity and resilience to climate change.
Albert Hill, co-founder and co-chief financial officer of Rose Hill said the Nasdaq listing provides a launching pad for Prize to enter the next phase in its global evolution, supported internally through vertical integration in its business segments and externally through a robust and diversified set of growers and retailers.
“Rose Hill set out to unlock Latin America’s potential to produce world-class companies using the tools of the most international markets on Earth, the US markets, and conversely, to provide US and international investors with access to well-managed, profitable, rapidly growing Latin American businesses at a time when value appeared to be a fleeting proposition locally,” said Hill.
“After speaking with dozens of companies, we believe we have found in Prize an exceptional enterprise at the intersection of our goals, and we share the Prize team’s excitement in building this company into an internationally renowned super-fruits platform.”
