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.

Few companies have a better finger to the pulse of consumer spending than payments and card companies. And, for all of the signs that interest rates and inflation would provide a damper on the economy by the end of the year, they’re painting a surprisingly rosy picture.

Both Visa (NYSE:V) and American Express (NYSE:AXP) beat expectations in their earnings reports this week and the former even boosted its quarterly dividend.

Visa CEO Ryan McInerney went on to tell CNBC that not only has the company not seen any meaningful impacts from inflation and the restart of student loan payments on spending, but the company is formally anticipating “no recession”.

This could carry on to be good news for fintech de-SPACs, although the highest four performers in that category over the past decade – International Money Express, Cardconnect, Paya and Billtrust – have already been acquired by strategic peers.

The next two highest traders by split-adjusted share price are digital banker SoFi (NASDAQ:SOFI) and crypto card payments firm CompoSecure (NASDAQ:CMPO), which combined with Social Capital V and Roman DBDR Tech, respectively, in 2021.

Both closed down yesterday at $7.38 for SoFi and $5.98 for CompoSecure. But, neither has yet reported its third quarter results, although SoFi’s numbers are coming on Monday, October 30.

Perhaps a bigger question is whether dodging a recession could get SPACs back into the fintech sector in general. Fintech was arguably the vehicles’ favorite sector in 2021, with 10 deals completed in the sector. But, SPACs went on to close just two fintech deals in 2022 and only one so far in 2023.

News and Rumors

• China Business Law Journal: Regulators are seeking to reform Hong Kong’s smaller GEM exchange, but are wary because not all of the changes to the higher exchange to introduce SPACs worked as intended.
• GlobeNewswire: LeddarTech, which announced its business combination with Prospector Capital (NASDAQ:PRSR) in June, plans to unveil its LeddarCar at the Reuters Automotive USA conference, demonstrating its next-generation sensor fusion and perception software for ADAS applications.
• Businesswire: X-Energy and the U.S. Department of Energy have entered into a cooperative agreement extending through 2024 to enhance the development of its mobile microreactor design. Ares Acquisition Corporation (NYSE:AAC) inked its $2.2 billion deal with X-Energy in December 2022.

Scheduling Notes

• Innovative International Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:IOAC) adjourned its special meeting, originally scheduled for October 26, to a later date in order to allow more time for the parties to consider and finalize financing and transaction terms.
• TG Venture Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:TGVC) has postponed tomorrow’s extension vote to 10:30 am ET November 1 and updated the expected redemption price to $11.03, up from $10.97 as outlined in its last proxy.