Brilliant Acquisition Corporation (BRLI) “Finalizes”, Not Closes Nukkleus Deal

Nukkleus (OTC:NUKK) announced “the completion of its strategic merger” with Brilliant (NASDAQ:BRLI) this morning, which has caused some ripples in the market, but it does not appear to represent an actual closing of the business combination.

The two sides may have dotted the Is and crossed the Ts on their own internal documents, but Brilliant has yet to hold a vote for its own shareholders to approve the deal. One was originally scheduled for tomorrow, December 1, but Brilliant announced in a filing yesterday evening that it intends to adjourn that meeting to 10 am ET, December 13.

It is possible that Nukkleus forgot to cancel a scheduled press release for the event of the shareholder approval once Brilliant decided that it would need to adjourn. But, even at that, this comes a day before the vote would have occurred.

The market is moving on the news regardless as Brilliant shares are up about +16.4%, while Nukkleus shares have calmed down to +8.7% from a +28% spike earlier in the morning.

There could still be some volatile trading to come as they two sides approach their true closing vote. At close, each Nukkleus share, now trading at $0.14 is to be converted to Brilliant stock in a 1:35 ratio, resulting in the company that now has a market cap of about $52 million receiving 10,500,000 Brilliant shares.

Remaining Brilliant public shareholders will then receive a bonus pool made up of the lower of 1,012,000 or 40% of all outstanding shares and rights immediately prior to close. Each Brilliant unit at IPO included a 1 for 1/10 right. So, whenever the closing does occur, it could be a bit of a ride.

Brilliant initially announced its combination with Nukkleus in February 2022. Jersey City, New Jersey-based Nukkleus provides software to process exchanges of crypto and foreign currencies as well as contracts for differences (CFDs) for these assets.