Dallas-based financial services firm Beneficient goes public with IPO

Dallas-based financial services company Beneficient began trading on Nasdaq Thursday following its merger last year with Avalon Acquisition.

The stock, which trades under the symbol BENF, opened at $15 a share and ran up to $16.50 before starting on a steady decline. Shares closed Thursday at $9, down 40% from the opening.

San Francisco-based Avalon is a blank check company that raised $207 million in 2021 in its initial public offering. It acquired Beneficient with the intention of taking it public through its special purpose acquisition company structure, commonly referred to as a SPAC deal.

SPAC IPO prices have historically been volatile because redemptions are high, said Matt Kennedy, senior IPO market strategist at Renaissance Capital. About 18 million shares were redeemed by Avalon shareholders. A holder of a share of Avalon was entitled to $10 a share plus interest. It’s not clear how much Beneficient raised Thursday, Kennedy said.

At year-end there was $212 million in the Avalon trust, and redemptions removed $191 million. Avalon now folds into Beneficient, which posted a loss of $140 million last year, according to its prospectus filing in March.

“As a listed company, we believe we will have greater access to the capital markets and look forward to being able to offer even more liquidity options to alternative assets investors,” Brad Heppner, Beneficient CEO said in a statement.

Beneficient has 165 employees who work with mid-to-high net worth individuals and small-to-midsized companies who are interested in alternative investments.

Beneficient’s former parent company GWG Holdings filed for bankruptcy five months after it was carved out as an independent company.