Kenn Ricci's Zanite Acquisition Corp. sets $200 million IPO

Ricci, who leads Flexjet, Sentient Jets, PrivateFly, and FXAIR parent Directional Aviation, serves as co-CEO of Zanite

Zanite Acquisition Corp. announced today that it priced its initial public offering of 20,000,000 units at $10.00 per unit, or $200 million.

Zanite is a blank check company, also referred to as a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, formed to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses.

Although Zanite may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business or industry, it intends to focus on companies in the aviation, aerospace and defense, urban mobility, and emerging technologies industries, according to an announcement.

Kenn Ricci serves as co-CEO. He is well known as the principal of Directional Aviation with a business aviation empire ranging from MRO services to remanufacturing private jets via Nextant Aerospace and OneSky Flight, which houses Flexjet, Sentient Jet, FXAIR, PrivateFly, and Tuvoli.

Each unit consists of one share of the Company’s Class A common stock and one-half of one redeemable warrant. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of Class A common stock at $11.50 per share.

The units are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market and began trading today under the ticker symbol ZNTEU. It ended its first day of trading up 2 cents, closing at $10.02.

The new role doesn’t impact Ricci’s role with Directional.

While Zanite is expected to focus on futuristic aviation concepts, its IPO comes when more merger and acquisition activity is expected to continue among traditional business aviation companies. Seven of the nine largest Part 135 charter operators have been involved in a deal over the past 18 months.