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Armada Acquisition Corp. II shares fell sharply in premarket trading on Tuesday, Oct. 6, after a steep run-up ahead of its planned merger with XRP treasury company Evernorth Holdings. Investing.com reported the stock was down 34.3% at $25.39 after opening as high as $44; that quote reflects premarket trading, not a confirmed closing price.
The pullback followed a rally of roughly 273% over the previous week, during which the shares briefly reached $53, according to Investing.com and CoinDesk. The merger is expected to close Oct. 7, with the combined company scheduled to begin trading on Nasdaq the following day, subject to remaining conditions. Tuesday’s decline suggests investors were reassessing the SPAC’s share price as the transaction approached, though no single confirmed cause for the selloff was identified.
Merger speculation preceded the reversal
Armada is a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, formed to combine with a private business. Its announced deal with Evernorth would take the XRP-focused treasury company public. Armada’s shares had traded near the value of cash held in its trust before climbing rapidly in the days leading up to the merger vote and expected closing.
Evernorth has said it expects to hold approximately 473 million XRP at closing. CoinDesk reported on Oct. 5 that the tokens would have been worth about $714 million at the XRP price it cited that day. Those figures describe the planned treasury and a market-value estimate, not a guaranteed value for Evernorth’s shares; the token’s price can change.
Redemptions may leave a smaller public float
A key uncertainty is how much cash Armada will retain after shareholders exercise their right to redeem shares for their portion of the SPAC trust. Armada’s trust held $241.2 million at the end of June, according to its quarterly filing. CoinDesk compared that balance with an Oct. 1 Evernorth announcement indicating about $48 million in trust proceeds would remain for the transaction, and estimated that roughly 80% of the trust money could be returned.
That estimate is not a final redemption count: CoinDesk noted the announcement did not disclose how many shares had actually been redeemed. Redemptions reduce the cash and shares carried into a combination; if the public float is smaller, trading can become more volatile. The final share count and cash balance were still to be disclosed at closing.
The XRP treasury carries market risk
Evernorth’s planned holdings make the combined company’s value closely tied to XRP, alongside its capital structure and other transaction terms. CoinDesk reported that Evernorth had spent $214.1 million to acquire 84.4 million XRP through 2025, at an average price of about $2.54 per token; at the roughly $1.51 price cited in its Oct. 5 report, that tranche was worth about $127 million.
These are dated comparisons rather than a complete valuation of Evernorth. The company’s expected total XRP holdings also include tokens and financing linked to the transaction, and its value cannot be inferred simply by applying one XRP price to the treasury without accounting for shares, cash, liabilities, and transaction terms.
What comes next
Armada shareholders approved the proposed business combination at a meeting on Sept. 30, according to an announcement carried by Fidelity. The companies have said closing is expected Oct. 7 and Nasdaq trading under the XRPN ticker is expected to start Oct. 8. Both dates remain forward-looking until the transaction closes and trading begins.
An SEC filing by Armada dated Oct. 5 documents an amendment to its warrant agreement, aligning its terms with the IPO prospectus. The filing is a separate transaction-related disclosure; it does not establish the cause of Tuesday’s share decline. Final redemptions, the post-merger share count, and trading after the new listing remain important details to watch as the deal proceeds.
