Evernorth shareholders approve merger ahead of planned Nasdaq listing

Armada Acquisition Corp. II shareholders approved its merger with Evernorth at a September 30 meeting, Evernorth said Wednesday. The deal is expected to close October 7. Evernorth’s Class A common stock is slated to begin trading on Nasdaq October 8 under the ticker XRPN. The merger and related fundraising have brought in more than $1 billion. The transaction is expected to generate roughly $300 million in gross cash proceeds before expenses, including $225 million from private placements, $30 million in convertible note financing and about $48 million in trust proceeds. Investors also contributed XRP directly. Evernorth expects to hold about 473 million XRP at closing, which the company says would make it the largest publicly traded company focused solely on holding XRP as a treasury asset. Evernorth said all its committed funders are participating. Founder and CEO Asheesh Birla said going public would give investors a regulated, transparent way to gain XRP exposure and participate in the blockchain economy’s growth. Evernorth’s backers include Ripple, Pantera Capital, Kraken, SBI Group, GSR and Arrington Capital. Evernorth initially announced its public-listing plan with about $685 million in XRP holdings as part of a Ripple-backed effort to raise $1 billion to accumulate the token. Evernorth’s registration statement took effect in late August, clearing SEC review. Evernorth said it intends to increase its XRP holdings per share over time through yield strategies, participation in the XRP ecosystem and capital-markets activity. The listing extends a trend in which public companies raise capital to accumulate a single cryptocurrency. The model links those companies’ share prices to that asset, as Strategy pioneered with Bitcoin. Evernorth’s fortunes will track XRP’s price, which can move sharply in either direction.