Recharge Acquisition Corp. Completes $200M IPO, Will Seek Opportunities in C-store Industry

NEW YORK — Recharge Acquisition Corp. raised $200 million as it pursues business opportunities in several industries, with an initial focus on the convenience channel.

Led by Chairman Rajesh Soin, CEO Anthony Kenney and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Michael Gearhardt, the company completed an initial public offering (IPO) earlier this month. Kenney is the former president of Speedway LLC, the retail arm of Marathon Petroleum Corp.

Recharge Acquisition is a blank check company, also known as a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. 

According to company officials, Recharge Acquisition's initial transaction will be in the $500-million to $1-billion range, followed by a smaller deal.

"Our initial acquisition has to be sizable by rules of the SPAC, so we're targeting a fairly sizable regional chain that could look like 150 stores to begin with," Gearhardt told the Dayton Business Journal. "Then after that acquisition we would make other smaller acquisitions, maybe five- to 25-store chains that may be in the $20-million to $35-million range."

Recharge Acquisition has already identified 55 c-store chains that fall into its initial range, Kenney added, and the possible targets are located throughout the United States.

"It depends on where we could be successful in making the right acquisition, so the geographic presence doesn't bother us one bit," he said. "There are a lot of great markets across the country in all 50 states."

The company plans to start with 150 stores and it wants to make the initial acquisition within the first six months. After a year, Recharge Acquisition could be closing in on 180 to 200 stores, Gearhardt told the news outlet.

All three executives noted the c-store industry is prime for consolidation. "It is basically a very fragmented industry, and so it's really good for consolidation and rollup and to improve overall performance with synergies," Soin said.

With the IPO, Recharge Acquisition is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market and trades under the ticker symbol RCHGU. The company began trading on Oct. 1.

Raymond James & Associates Inc. and EarlyBirdCapital Inc. are acting as the joint book running managers for the offering.