Electric aviation and regional air travel company Surf Air Mobility shares slumped 75% below their reference price in a direct listing Thursday.
Shares debuted on the New York Stock Exchange at $5 per share — well below its reference price of $20. Shares fell a further 40% to $3.15 by the bell Thursday.
The stock price at debut is determined by orders coming into the stock exchange. It was the first direct listing in a year.
Surf Air CEO Stan Little noted the company did not need to raise capital, saying the priority was to complete a listing rather than reach a specific valuation, because it had several commercial contracts and a previously arranged merger that were contingent on it becoming a public company.
Surf Air Mobility had earlier this month pushed its listing date from July 11 to the week of July 24, Reuters reported. The company had last year confidentially filed for a U.S. direct listing after terminating its $1.42 billion merger with a blank-check firm.
The direct listing came nearly nine months after the company terminated a merger agreement with Tuscan Holdings II. The SPAC disclosed at the time that if Surf Air completes a direct listing, IPO, a SPAC transaction or a sale by Nov. 14, 2025, Surf Air will issue to Tuscan 600,000 shares and reimburse Tuscan’s expenses by issuing an additional 35,000 shares or paying the SPAC $700,000 in cash. Read more.
