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.
President Joe Biden took to the airwaves last night to assert a message of American leadership over growing crises abroad.
This may assuage those in the affected areas but the markets have had their eyes more squarely on fights nearer to home. As the House Speaker chair remained empty, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell had his usual up-and-down affects on the market with a speech to the Economic Club of New York, explaining that monetary policy was probably tight enough, but the labor market remains too tight for a change.
That could be cold comfort for SPACs hunting in growth sectors, but should in theory be a positive signal for those looking for targets in consumer staples and construction. That has been the case for Riverview‘s Westrock Coffee (NASDAQ:WEST) and SilverBox I‘s Black Rifle Coffee (NYSE:BRCC), up +2.3% and +5.5% in the aftermarket, respectively.
But it didn’t carry over to construction de-SPACs the day of the speech. DiamondHead‘s homebuilding de-SPAC United Homes (NASDAQ:UHG) and Legato II‘s infrastructure construction de-SPAC Southland (NYSE:SLND) were down -1% and 3.9% on the day and more in the aftermarket.
A new entrant could be coming soon to test this trend from a different angle, however, as two (NYSE:TWOA) approaches close with LatAm Logistics Properties, an investor in high-end industrial locations for use as warehouses and fulfillment centers in Costa Rica, Colombia and Peru.
News and Rumors
- AFN: Moolec Science (NASDAQ:MLEC), which combined with LightJump in December 2022 secured $30 million in funding from Grupo Insud made up of $21 million in convertible notes and roughly $10 million-worth of in-kind contributions from giving Moolec access to industrial capabilities.
- Innovation Map: Nauticus Robotics Inc. (NASDAQ:KITT), which completed its combination with CleanTech in September 2022, announced it has acquired underwater lidar specialist 3D at Depth in a $34 million stock transaction.
- SCMedia: Collapse of LGL‘s cybersecurity target IronNet (OTC:IRNT) likely a harbinger of trouble among other listed cybersecurity firms that have prized growth over profit and stuck too closely to niches.
- Reuters: Law firm sues SPAC trustee Continental in attempt to prevent it from dispersing trust funds to shareholders amid 26 Capital‘s messy failed merger with Okada Manila.
Scheduling Notes
- Vision Sensing Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:VSAC) has postponed its extension meeting, scheduled to occur at 8:30 a.m. EDT on Friday, October 20, until 12:00 noon EDT on Wednesday, October 25.
Mobiv Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:MOBV) announced this afternoon that it has closed its combination with EV motorcycle-maker SRIVARU. Shareholders originally approved the deal at a special meeting held back on September 28, but at that time, the parties expected the transaction to take just a week to close. Redemptions whittled Mobiv’s IPO share pool of 10,005,000 down...
Achari Ventures I (NASDAQ:AVHI) has entered into a definitive agreement to combine with medtech firm Vaso Corporation at an equity value of $176 million, or 19.5x its 2022 adjusted EBITDA. Wuxi, China-based Vaso provides IT services and sales support to medical device manufacturers. The combined company is expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the...
EF Hutton Acquisition Corp. I (NASDAQ:EFHT) announced this morning that its shareholders have approved its business combination with E.C.D. Auto Design. At the meeting, there were 5,089,203 shares of common stock, representing approximately 76.82% of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock, present. In connection with the meeting, the company’s stockholders holding 3,470,945 shares,...
Legato Merger Corp. III (NYSE:LEGT) filed for a $175 million IPO yesterday afternoon, becoming the fourth SPAC to file this week. While the other three SPACs that filed their S-1s earlier this week intend to pursue targets in the financial services and biotech industries, Legato III, similar to the earlier Legato SPACs, will focus on...
At the SPAC of Dawn This week ends with an unusually busy earnings calendar as 172 US-listed companies report quarterly figures today. Among them is Exela Technologies (NASDSAQ:XELA), which completed a combination with Quinpario 2 in 2017. The billing software company has gone on to do another SPAC deal on November 29, this time spinning...