Avalon Acquisition Inc. (AVAC)

Avalon Acquisition Inc. was a special purpose acquisition company, a listed shell formed to raise cash from public investors and then merge with a private operating business. Its units, Class A shares and warrants traded on Nasdaq, with the common stock under the symbol AVAC. Like other blank-check vehicles of the period, it held the proceeds of its public offering in a trust account until a deal was approved. The company had no operating business of its own while it searched for a target.

Avalon came to market during the 2021 SPAC boom, when hundreds of similar vehicles listed in the United States. In September 2022 it announced an agreement to combine with The Beneficient Company Group, a Dallas-based firm that provides liquidity and trust services to holders of alternative assets such as private equity fund interests. The transaction was presented as valuing Beneficient at about $3.5 billion. Beneficient was led by its founder, Brad Heppner.

Avalon stockholders approved the business combination at a special meeting on June 7, 2023. After closing, the Avalon shares ceased to trade and Beneficient became the public company, with its Class A common stock listed on Nasdaq as BENF and its warrants as BENFW. Holders who did not redeem their shares for cash from the trust received Beneficient securities.

Beneficient struggled after the listing, with large write-downs and a steep decline in its share price, and it later carried out a reverse stock split to keep its listing. The AVAC symbol itself was retired when the merger closed. Former Avalon investors who held on became Beneficient shareholders.