Manufacturing-focused SPAC Navigation Capital Acquisition VIII files for a $150 million IPO

Navigation Capital Acquisition VIII, a blank check company formed by Navigation Capital targeting niche manufacturing, filed on Monday with the SEC to raise up to $150 million in an initial public offering.

The Atlanta, GA-based company plans to raise $150 million by offering 15 million units at $10 per unit. Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one-third of a warrant, exercisable at $11.50. At the proposed deal size, the company would command a market value of $188 million. 

The company is led by CEO and Director Lonnie Johnson, President of Johnson Research and Development and CEO of Johnson Battery Technology, CFO Matthew Phelan, a VP at Navigation Capital, and Chairman Robert Willis, co-founder and Managing Partner of Navigation Capital. The company aims to leverage management's experience to target niche manufacturing businesses that provide a platform for add-on acquisitions.

Navigation Capital is also behind three other SPACs that filed concurrently with Navigation Capital Acquisition VIII (NCAU.RC, NCAUB.RC, and NCAUD.RC). The firm has been active in the SPAC space, sponsoring multiple blank check companies, including Pensare Acquisition, which completed its acquisition of Computex Technology Solutions in April 2020 to form American Virtual Cloud Technologies (AVCT).

The company was founded in 2021 and plans list on the NYSE, but has not yet selected a symbol (RC ticker: NCAUC.RC). Wells Fargo Securities and Mizuho Investors are the joint bookrunners on the deal.