Omeed Malik’s SPAC Nears Deal With ‘Patriotic’ Marketplace PublicSq.

(Bloomberg) -- Omeed Malik’s Colombier Acquisition Corp., a blank-check firm, agreed to merge with PSQ Holdings Inc., a marketplace that connects who it describes as “freedom-loving” Americans, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

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The combined entity is set to be valued at more than $200 million, said the people, who requested anonymity discussing confidential information. A transaction may be announced as soon as Monday.

Carlsbad, California-based PSQ, which does business as PublicSq., is led by CEO Michael Seifert. It describes itself as the largest marketplace of “America-first” businesses, and is seeking to provide an alternative to anyone in the US who wants to buy from companies that align with their values, the people said.

Malik, Nick Ayers, who served as chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, and Blake Masters, a former Thiel Capital executive endorsed by President Donald Trump in his run for a senate seat in Arizona, are poised to join the combined company’s board, said the people.

Representatives for Colombier and PublicSq. declined to comment.

Colombier raised $172.5 million in a June 2021 initial public offering. Malik, a former Bank of America Corp. managing director, talked about “patriotic capitalism” in a December interview with Tucker Carlson. He formed an investment firm known as 1789 Capital, which says it will provide capital to “companies building the next era of American prosperity,” its website shows. It’s named after the year the US Bill of Rights was signed.

Other conservative companies that have merged with SPACs include Black Rifle Coffee, which now trades as BRC Inc., and Rumble Inc., a Peter Thiel-backed video-sharing platform that says it’s “designed to be immune to cancel culture.”

Read more: Conservative Coffee Company Black Rifle Agrees to SPAC Merger

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