At the SPAC of Dawn
Good morning! Watch this space moving forward as a roundup of evening filings as well as news nuggets to nibble on beside your morning coffee.
After a Halloween massacre that saw four SPAC deals get terminated in about 24 hours, we presaged that the bloodletting of long-running deals might continue into November. So far, it has.
Yesterday two more deals went down as Blockchain Coinvestors (NASDAQ:BCSA) canceled a deal with Qenta and Arogo (NASDAQ:AOGO) threw in the towel on its EON reality deal. Both were transactions in sectors that appear to have far less buzz today than when they were struck.
Qenta is attempting to create a physical gold-backed crypto currency and fintech platform, while EON provides metaverse-based training programs.
The deals had each been pending for a year or more, which continues to be the state for a large portion of SPACs with announced deals. As of November 1, the median time since announcement for such SPACs had already grown to 7.3 months.
One more SPAC, Healthwell I (NASDAQ:HWEL) terminated its deal with Starton Therapeutics on Monday after a shorter campaign, having announced it initially in late April. This still brings the 10-day total to seven terminations.
News and Rumors
- PR: Space venture Momentus (NASDAQ:MNTS) closed a sale of 2,904,269 warrants for about $6.5 million two years out from closing its combination with Stable Road. The warrants can be exercised to receive 5,808,538 shares at $2 per share.
- The Messenger: SoftBank Group reported a loss of $1.55 billion in its second quarter on Thursday after taking a significant hit from WeWork’s (NYSE:WE), which combined with BowX in 2021, bankruptcy filing earlier this week.
- PR: IoT company KORE (NYSE:KORE) announced a $150 million strategic investment from Searchlight Capital Partners that will reduce its leverage to 5.3x EBITDA from 7.3x. The company combined with Cerberus Telecom in 2021.
- GasWorld: New Era Helium Corp., which announced the signing of a non-binding LOI for a proposed business combination with Accretion Acquisition (NASDAQ:ENER), is one step closer to production at its Pecos Slope helium plant, having announced the signing of two new agreements with Keyes Helium Company and Badger Midstream Energy.
- Venture Beat: Skillz (NYSE:SKLZ) told a federal court on Monday that a federal grand jury was seeking access to information on AviaGames and its top executives in relation to Skillz’ allegations about defrauding players in skill-based games. Skillz completed its combination with Flying Eagle Acquisition Corp. in mid-December 2020.
Once again, the November 2024 corporate actions continues the trend of SPAC teams seeking additional extensions beyond their first one as they work to close their combinations with the remaining funds after redemptions. However, both announcements and completion vote-type corporate actions events were unusually light this month. Extension Votes In November, there were a whopping...
Future Vision II (NASDAQ:FVNNU) has entered into a definitive agreement to combine with adtech firm Viwo at an equity value of $100 million. Beijing-based Viwo provides AI-enabled targeting technology for marketers and brands in China. The combined company is expected to trade on the Nasdaq once the deal is completed by the end of the...
At the SPAC of Dawn The SPAC market could be primed to wake up from its Turkey Day slumber with a bang this week as both Shepherd Ave (NASDAQ:SPHAU) and Tavia (NASDAQ:TAVIU) have lined up to IPO and five more SPACs have scheduled votes. Late Friday also saw the Future Vision II (NASDAQ:FVNNU) announce a...
Terms Tracker for the Week Ending November 29, 2024 Welcome to our weekly column where we discuss the findings from our IPO terms tracker based on the previous week’s pricings. This was a shortened holiday week, but SPACs still managed to put through a number of filings, which should usher in a busy first half...
Range Capital Acqusition Corp. (NASDAQ:RANGU) has filed to launch a $100 million SPAC with a broad approach, but with expertise in natural resources. The vehicle becomes the fourth SPAC that underwriter EarlyBirdCapital has put its name on so far this year, but it bears some different features than the rest of its 2024 slate. EarlyBirdCapital...