March 9 (Reuters) – Golf club company Aureus Greenway Holdings, backed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s son, said it would merge with Powerus in a bid to take the drone technology company public.
The deal is the latest in Eric and Donald Trump Jr.’s growing investment in drones, following last month’s $1.5 billion deal between Israeli drone maker XTEND and Florida-based JFB Construction Holdings.
Drones have become a major procurement focus for the Pentagon and are used extensively in Ukraine, where dense air defense systems near front lines limit the deployment of conventional aircraft.
This growing reliance has also attracted significant Silicon Valley capital into drone and military artificial intelligence startups, boosting the valuations of U.S. companies such as Anduril Industries and Shield AI.
Founded in 2025 by Andrew Fox, Powerus produces heavy-duty drones that can carry industrial payloads up to 675kg. The company also offers services to retrofit existing manned vessels into remotely operated or fully autonomous vessels.
Aureus said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing that Foxx is expected to serve as CEO and chairman of the combined company.
Aureus has hired Dominari Securities to help raise approximately $9 million in financing under the planned merger.
Dominari counts the Trump brothers as its shareholders, with each holding about 6% of the shares.
Aureus said either company could terminate the merger if it is not completed by the end of 2026.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)