A proposed merger between open deck trucking conglomerate Daseke Inc. and Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. II (HCAC) will allow Daseke to become a NASDAQ-listed public company so it can pursue more “organic growth” while also providing a stock ownership plan to its employees, noted Chairman, CEO and President Don Daseke in a statement.
“We believe this formidable combination will enable us to continue to add more outstanding open deck companies to the Daseke family,” he added, noting that the $133 billion open deck freight market is “very fragmented,” with Daseke having less than a 1% share of its overall volume.
HCAC said will acquire all of the outstanding capital stock of Daseke in an all-stock merger transaction, which will end up introducing Daseke as a publicly traded company, with an anticipated initial enterprise value of approximately $702 million.
In connection with the merger, HCAC will change its name to Daseke, Inc. and apply to continue to list its common stock and warrants on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the ticker symbols "DSKE" and "DSKEW," respectively.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, HCAC said the aggregate consideration payable upon closing will be $626 million, consisting entirely of newly issued shares of HCAC common stock at a value of $10.00 per share, subject to certain adjustments for Daseke's cash, indebtedness, unpaid income taxes and unpaid transaction expenses and the repurchase of shares.
Don Daseke will remain the top executive at Daseke, with HCAC’s Daniel Hennessy, chairman and CEO, and Kevin Charlton president, COO and director, joining Daseke’s board of directors.
