The Nasdaq logo is displayed at the Nasdaq Market site in New York September 2, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidgave up premarket gains to fall 20% on Monday, the first day of trading after a merger that saw the niche hi-tech materials maker swallow Torchlight Energy Resources, which was at the center of huge speculative bets by small individual traders.
In a reverse takeover to list on the Nasdaq and access the U.S. capital markets, Metamaterial Inc, a smart materials and photonics company, last year agreed to merge with Torchlight, an oil and gas producer. The deal includes plans to divest the legacy energy assets. The company, which pushed back the closing of the deal to June 30, upsized its stock offering to $250 million last week from $100 million to take advantage of the share price rally.Torchlight also said on Friday it paid a special dividend to its stockholders of record on June 24 and that it implemented a previously approved 1 for 2 reverse stock split.