Dubai-Based Transport Startup Swvl to Go Public in $1.5 Billion Blank Check Merger

Egyptian transport start-up Swvl said on Wednesday it was combining with U.S. special purpose acquisition company Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital in a merger that would allow the company to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

The company, which moved headquarters to Dubai in late 2019, describes itself as the first $1.5 billion unicorn from the Middle East to list on the exchange, where it will have the ticker symbol SWVL.

Swvl, which operates buses along fixed routes and allows customers to reserve and pay for them using an app and operates in 10 countries including Egypt, Kenya, and Pakistan, will have a fully diluted equity value of $1.5 billion upon completion of the transaction, it said.

The transaction will provide $445 million in proceeds to the company which it will use to expand to 20 countries by 2025, it said.

(Reporting by Ehab Farouk, writing by Nafisa Eltahir; editing by David Evans)

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