Mountain Crest III (MCAE) Shareholders Approve ETAO Deal

Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp. III (NASDAQ:MCAE) announced this afternoon that its shareholders approved its combination with healthcare group ETAO at a special meeting held earlier today.

The filing did not divulge redemption figures or a closing time, but the SPAC’s shares dropped to a low of $9.10 on the day of its redemption deadline, below its estimated trust value of $10.00 per share.

Nonetheless, once the deal is completed, the combined company is expected to trade on the NYSE under the symbol “ETAO”.

The parties announced their business combination in January 2022 at an original valuation of $2.5 billion. But, Mountain Crest amended the deal in June to reduce ETAO’s valuation to just $1 billion due to unfavorable market conditions and failure to close a private placement of $51 million.

The SPAC originally brought $54.1 million into the deal supplemented by a $250 million PIPE at $10 per share with commitments from the China SME Investment Group. At the time, ETAO expected to also take in a $51 million investment prior to the deal’s close.

Beijing-based ETAO is a diversified healthcare group managing 12 hospitals, about 30 chain clinics and an insurance brokerage.