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Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr are backing a new blank cheque investment vehicle targeting US manufacturers and looking to benefit from government spending.
The launch of New America Acquisition I Corp marks the latest Trump family foray into public markets. The vehicle will seek to buy a US company that plays “a meaningful role in revitalising domestic manufacturing, expanding innovation ecosystems, and strengthening critical supply chains”, the group said on Monday.
The vehicle’s Securities and Exchange Commission filing said it would target a company “well-positioned to benefit from federal or state-level incentives, such as grants, tax credits, government contracts or preferential procurement programs” and where “the US government has an identifiable economic or security interest”.
A person close to the Spac, which aims to raise $300mn in an offering on the New York Stock Exchange, did not rule out a merger with a crypto group, however.
The target company “could be in crypto . . . but it’s more likely to be something in data centres, drones, something bricks and mortar. An investment in a great American company”, the person said.
Trump Jr and Eric Trump own 2mn and 3mn founder shares in New America respectively, and have taken positions on the board of the Florida-incorporated vehicle’s advisory board, filings show.
Donald Trump’s sons have in recent months become actively involved in several private and publicly listed companies that stand to benefit from the president’s embrace of digital assets and attempts to revitalise US manufacturing and the so-called patriotic economy.
Trump Jr has backed weapons retailer GrabAGun — shares in which have tumbled 44 per cent since it listed through a Spac merger in mid-July — as well as cryptocurrency miner American Bitcoin, where Eric Trump is chief strategy officer.
New America’s offering will be underwritten by two firms: Dominari Securities, which is headquartered in Trump Tower and counts Eric Trump and Trump Jr on its advisory board, and D Boral Capital, a New York-based boutique investment bank that helped list the president’s media company Trump Media & Technology Group via a Spac in 2022.
Dominari’s chief executive Kyle Wool is also a member of New America’s advisory board.
The Financial Times reported in April that shares in Dominari Holdings, which owns Dominari Securities, rose by 580 per cent in the six weeks before its February 11 filing revealing that the president’s sons had joined its advisory board.