** SPAC Columbus Circle Capital Corp II's CMII.O shares rise ~4% to $10.37 premarket

** CMII to take U.S.-based cargo drone maker Elroy Air public via definitive merger agreement

** Deal values Elroy Air at $800 million pre-money and a post-transaction enterprise value of about $1 billion
** Combined entity to operate as Elroy Air, targeting Nasdaq listing under ticker "ELRY"

** Over $165 million in committed PIPE capital expected to fund commercial scale production of Chaparral, an eVTOL drone designed to carry 500+ pounds of cargo, with U.S. manufacturing partner Kratos Defense & Security Solutions KTOS.O

** CMII is led by the management team of Inflection Point Asset Management and Cohen & Co COHN.A