Investing

Oil and Gas Blank-Check Company KLR Energy Completes IPO

Paul Ausick

Published: March 11, 2016 12:20 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 12:03 pm

The initial public offering (IPO) market may be gasping for air, but it’s not dead yet. Blank-check company KLR Energy Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: KLREU) completed an IPO Friday morning, raising $80 million on the sale of 8 million units at a per unit price of $10.

The special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) was formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. While it intends to focus on the oil and gas exploration and production industry, the company’s acquisitions will not be limited to that industry alone.

The IPO is a good sign, but not that good. The company originally had planned to offer 13 million units at $10 each. Each unit is comprised of one share of class A common stock and one warrant to purchase one share of class A common stock at a price of $11.50 under certain conditions.

Sole bookrunner for the offering is EarlyBird Capital, and the co-manager is i-Bankers Securities. In addition to the ticker symbol for trading units, shares will trade under the symbol KLRE and warrants will trade under the symbol KLREW.

KLR Energy’s IPO follows by less than three weeks an upsized offering of 45 million units by another blank-check company that plans to acquire energy business. Silver Run Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: SRAQU) raised $450 million, the largest of this year’s IPOs to date.

KLR Energy’s units traded flat early Friday afternoon at $10.00, after posting a high of $10.07.

Silver Run units traded up 0.2% at 10.31, in a post-IPO range of $10.10 to $10.55.