Santa Monica-based B. Riley FBR has formed a “blank check company,” to be called B. Riley Principal Merger Corp., scheduled to begin trading April 8.

Blank check IPOs – or special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs – tend to trade around their IPO prices.

B. Riley FBR’s blank check company plans to raise $125 million by offering 12.5 million shares at a price of $10 each, and trade under the symbol of BRPM.

The company’s business purpose is to effect “a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to as our initial business combination,” according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The blank check company, which will focus on businesses with an enterprise value of $300 million to $1 billion, is to be headquartered in New York City.

B. Riley FBR Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of B. Riley Financial Inc.

B. Riley Principal Merger’s management team will include chief executive officer Kenneth Young, who has served as president of B. Riley Financial since July 2018, and chief financial officer Daniel Shribman, who has been president of B. Riley Principal Investments since September 2018.

Finance reporter Pat Maio can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8329.