African Agriculture Signs Agreement to Go Public Through Merger with SPAC 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp. II

Congratulations to our client African Agriculture Inc., which earlier this week signed an agreement to go public through a merger with 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company. The closing is expected to take place during the first half of 2023.

African Agriculture Inc. is a New York-based global food security and sustainability company that manages extensive farmland in West Africa, including an alfalfa farm on approximately 750 acres of a total of 62,000 acres of dedicated farmland in Senegal and approximately 500,000 acres of farmland under contract in Niger. The business combination values African Agriculture Inc. at an estimated enterprise value of $450 million. Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company is expected to list its shares on the NASDAQ stock market.

Law360 covered this significant transaction in a November 3 article entitled “Latham, Morrison Lead $450M SPAC, African Farm Biz Merger.” As reported in the article, alfalfa was a $21 billion global market in 2021 and will increase to $35 billion by 2028. The merger will give African Agriculture additional capital to expand farming operations and the opportunity to provide food security in a time of disrupted food chains and soaring grocery prices. African Agriculture CEO Alan Kessler, who will continue to lead the combined company, stated, “Our access to abundant water and flexible logistics gives us the tools to restore the historical European breadbasket in the Senegal-Mauritania river valley."

The transaction was also covered in an American Lawyer Deal Watch article entitled “Cravath, Davis Polk, S&C and Simpson Among Firms Making Hay in Banner Week.”

The team at Morrison Cohen included Partners Isaac Grossman, Zachary Jacobs, Alan Levine, Jack Levy and Tony Saur, Senior Counsel Robin Heszkel, and Associates Hunter Book, AliceRose Sherman and Meredith Sueyoshi. 10X is represented by Latham & Watkins LLP.

Read the press release about the planned merger on GlobeNewswire.