Food technology company Borealis Foods has become one step closer to being publicly listed following a SPAC deal with Oxus Acquisition Corp.
The proposed deal with Kazakhstan-registered Oxus Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), would see the company floated in the US by the end of the year.
In an initial statement on the deal, issued in February, Borealis Foods was valued at $150m.
The companies said Borealis Foods’s leadership team would remain in place, led by CEO and co-founder Reza Soltanzadeh and chairman Barthelemy Helg.
Borealis Foods develops and manufactures plant-based shelf-stable ready meals. It produces ramen noodles through subsidiary Palmetto Gourmet Foods, which are sold in the US and Canada, with plans to expand into Europe.
In the three months ended March 31 the company posted net revenue of $8.4m, with an operating loss of $4.6m.
In the year ended December 31 2022, the company increased net revenues from $13.6m in 2021 to $25.6m, with an operating loss of $23.1m.
In a statement yesterday (16 July), Oxus CEO Kanat Mynzhanov said: “Borealis is uniquely positioned to revolutionise the global food industry. We believe Borealis offers a potential pathway to a more sustainable future and is positioned to play an important role in the fight against world hunger.”
New York-listed Oxus Acquisition Corp was founded in 2021 “with the goal of helping to address global food and nutritional challenges”.
It said its strategic focus for Borealis Foods included “investments in innovation, supply chain capabilities, manufacturing, and marketing, reflecting a belief in the accelerating demand for their products across retail and e-commerce channels”.
Palmetto Gourmet Foods’ ramen noodles are produced in the US and available in retailers including Walmart, Costco and Aldi. The company says its plant has a capacity to produce 600m meals per year. Borealis Foods said: “The [ramen] category is ripe for disruption in a market limited by product differentiation, low retail profit margins, lackluster new product development and poor consumer perception.”
