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.
Shepherd Ave Capital Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: SPHAU) is the latest SPAC to file to IPO, making 24 new registration statements that have filed since June 1, 2024. So far, only two of those 24 have gone public, but it does indicate an active August. In SPACLand at least, August is never slow. As for Shepherd...
At the SPAC of Dawn SPACs have now priced 20 IPOs seven months into 2024 with an eye on beating 2023’s total of 31 IPOs. With a little more than 5 months left in the year, it’s expected that SPACs should at least match that number by only needing to price roughly two IPOs per...
DT Cloud Star announced the pricing of its $60 million IPO and its units are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol “DTSQU”, Thursday, July 25, 2024. The new SPAC aims to combine with an established business with long-term financial visibility, but has not limited itself to a particular industry or sector....
Launch Two (NASDAQ:LPBBU) has filed for a $200 million IPO that shows how the market has shifted for new issuance since its sister SPAC Launch One (NASDAQ:LPAAU) filed just over a month ago. Both SPACs are underwritten by Cantor Fitzgerald and seeking nominally the same raise at IPO, but Launch Two is overfunding its trust...
FTAC Emerald (NASDAQ:EMLD) has entered into a definitive agreement to combine with crypto fintech firm Fold at an enterprise value of $381 million. Phoenix, Arizona-based Fold provides digital banking services backed by a treasury of Bitcoin that includes FDIC-secured checking accounts as well Bitcoin trading and awards. The combined company is expected to trade on...