SPAC Odyssey: Shell's 273% Moonshot Leaves Trust Fund Running on Fumes 🛰️

Armada Acquisition Corp. II (XRPN), the blank-check vehicle merging with XRP treasury firm Evernorth, surged roughly 273% last week, closing Friday at $39.42 after touching $53, StockAnalysis data shows. The shares opened the prior week at $10.58 and were up another 9.5% in pre-market trading Monday, putting the company at nearly four times its $10.50-area trust value ahead of an expected Oct. 7 closing.

Evernorth said in an email the merger remains subject to remaining conditions before it can be completed on Wednesday. Armada is a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that raised capital into a trust and will now combine with the private XRP-focused business, giving public shareholders the option to redeem their interests for cash rather than hold shares in the post-merger entity.

That redemption option has reshaped the stock's setup. Armada's trust held $241.2 million at the end of June, with a redemption value of about $10.49 per public share, according to its quarterly filing. Evernorth's Oct. 1 announcement indicates that approximately $48 million in trust proceeds will remain for the transaction, implying roughly 80% of the trust money would be returned to shareholders, based on CoinDesk calculations. The announcement did not provide a final redeemed-share count, and thinner public float can leave shares sensitive to relatively small orders.

On closing, Evernorth expects to hold approximately 473 million XRP, which at Monday's price of around $1.51 would equate to about $714 million. The company has separately disclosed that XRP acquired for $214.1 million through 2025 is now worth roughly $127 million at recent prices. The transaction is also structured with about $300 million in gross cash proceeds before expenses, comprising $225 million from private placements and $30 million from the SPAC trust, with the remaining financing detailed in prior filings.

The combined entity would mark a new publicly listed vehicle tied directly to XRP holdings, joining a small but growing cohort of digital-asset treasury companies on U.S. exchanges. Backers include Ripple, and the deal was previously described as a shareholder vote away from a Nasdaq listing.