Fintech-focused SPAC EFIC1 to begin trading on Euronext Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A shell company known as EFIC1, which raised 415 million euros ($490 million) in an initial public offering of shares with the aim of buying a financial services company, is set to begin trading on Amsterdam's Euronext stock exchange on Friday.

European Fintech IPO Company BV, or EFIC1, was launched earlier this month by a group of investors, including former Commerzbank chief executive officer Martin Blessing, who will be CEO of the blank-check firm.

Other key figures in the launch include banker Nicholas Aperghis, who will be chief financial officer of EFIC1, Ben Davey, the chief investment officer, and Klaas Meertens, who oversaw a 45 million euro investment in EFIC1 via his firm HTP Investments.

Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, raise funds in an initial public offering in order to buy a private firm later. The United States has seen a boom in SPAC listings and numbers are growing in Europe.

EFIC1 hopes to "pave the way for promising FinTech companies in Europe to go public in their home region and strengthen Europe as the financial home of a forward-looking financial industry," Blessing said in a statement.

The firm sold 41.5 million shares at 10 euros each in a private placement, with Credit Suisse acting as the global coordinator.

($1 = 0.8488 euros)

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)