- Business
- Concord Acquisition Corp III (NYSE: CNDB) operates as a blank check company focused on effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar initial business combination with one or more businesses, primarily targeting established and growing companies in the financial services and financial technology sectors, including payments, enterprise software and data analytics; it raised $345 million in its initial public offering of 34,500,000 units in November 2021, with net proceeds largely deposited into a trust account. The company, incorporated in Delaware in February 2021 and headquartered at 477 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, issues Class A and Class B common stock, public warrants, private placement warrants and sponsor loan warrants; it maintains relationships with affiliates of sponsor Concord Sponsor Group III LLC, linked to Atlas Merchant Capital LLC, and engages administrative support agreements and working capital loans from related parties. Geographically, Concord Acquisition Corp III pursues targets with global operations through its management team's networks spanning the United States, Europe and Asia. In November 2023, the company announced a definitive business combination agreement with GCT Semiconductor, Inc., a fabless designer and supplier of advanced LTE, IoT and 5G semiconductor solutions serving telecom clients such as Verizon, T-Mobile and Nokia in mobile routers, infrastructure and smartphones, at an initial enterprise value of $461 million (pro forma $661 million); the transaction includes $43 million in PIPE and convertible note funding, sponsor promote forfeiture of 22% shares and 30% warrants, and an earnout of up to 20 million shares at price hurdles of $12.50, $15 and $17.50. The business combination closed in March 2024, with GCT Semiconductor becoming a publicly traded company under the ticker GCTS on the NYSE, supported by advisors including B. Riley Securities, TD Cowen, Morgan Lewis and Greenberg Traurig; post-merger ownership allocates 64.3% to existing GCT shareholders, 8.4% to public CNDB shareholders, 16.3% to PIPE investors and 11% to the sponsor.