Company also Extending Engagement with Investment Banking Partner to Underwrite Capital Raise
DALLAS, April 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Natural Shrimp Incorporated (OTCQB: SHMP), a Biotechnology Aquaculture Company (the "Company") that has developed and patented the first seafood-focused commercially operational RAS (Recirculating Aquaculture System), is pleased to announce that the Company has filed an initial application to list its securities on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange (Cboe US) BZX exchange (the "Exchange"). In addition, the Company has extended its engagement with its investment banking partner to underwrite a capital raise concurrent with the Cboe US listing.
The Company has also begun the restructuring process of its existing debt and mezzanine securities in order to meet Cboe US' shareholders' equity requirements and has identified a lead investor of up to $1.5M of an anticipated capital raise of between $5M - $10M.
Historically, for micro- and small-cap companies in particular, there were only two options when choosing a senior exchange on which to execute their initial public offering, uplisting or cross-listing transaction: the Nasdaq Capital Market (Nasdaq) or the NYSE American (NYSE). As recently as mid-2023, a third option emerged when Cboe Global Markets made it possible for companies to list on its U.S. market. This has now made it possible for micro- and small-cap companies to choose an alternative for their stakeholders' benefit.
While Cboe US as a senior exchange is new for issuers, Cboe is not new to the exchange arena, having just celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023 as a world leader in options trading, including having run stock exchanges in several countries over the last decade, including the U.S. where it has become home to over 650 ETFs. Now, Cboe US is channeling that expertise toward building out this third senior exchange for public companies. NaturalShrimp is excited to be a benefactor of that for its stakeholders.
Gerald Easterling, CEO of Natural Shrimp stated "After several weeks of meetings and due diligence, Natural Shrimp is pleased to announce this next step in our evolution. This listing will expose the company to many more institutional investors in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. We believe that we have completed all the requirements and documentation to quickly move to this exchange. Also, we are expecting to extend our investment banking relationship as part of this process."
William Delgado, CFO of Natural added "We have been working on the uplist process for the better part of two years. The predominant small cap uplist exchange has seen a significant reduction in both the number of uplists and IPOs. We have been in discussions with the Cboe US for the past several weeks and truly believe that their new platform is going to change the micro and small cap marketplace and be of significant benefit to NaturalShrimp and provide liquidity to our shareholders."
The Company expects to announce new market opportunities, completion and capitalization of its existing facilities, and new domestic and international expansion opportunities in the coming weeks.
About Natural Shrimp
Natural Shrimp, Incorporated is a publicly traded aquaculture Company, headquartered in Dallas, with production facilities located near San Antonio, Texas, and Webster City, Iowa. The Company has developed the first commercially viable system for growing shrimp in enclosed salt-water systems using patented technology to produce fresh, naturally grown shrimp, without the use of antibiotics or toxic chemicals. Natural Shrimp systems can be located anywhere in the world to produce gourmet-grade Pacific white shrimp. For more information visit www.naturalshrimp.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains a number of forward-looking statements that reflect management's current views with respect to future events and financial performance. Forward-looking statements are projections in respect of future events or our future financial performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of us and members of our management team, as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risk and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the risks set forth in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, any of which may cause our company's or our industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements.
SOURCE NaturalShrimp Inc
