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.
Car ownership has long been considered a part of the American Dream, but it’s a slice of that goal that is getting more expensive even faster that housing.
The average annual cost of owning a new car jumped +13.5% this year to $12,182 according to a AAA study cited by the NYT. That’s no small change for the 92% of households that have at least one car and SPACs have been heavily involved in the economics of auto in recent years.
Since 2019, SPACs have completed six deals with targets SPACInsider categorizes as “AutoTech” with five more announced and one new SPAC, Zi Toprun, on file to IPO with a focus on this area.
Forty-six more SPACs have either done deals recently or are seeking to do so with the makers of EV batteries or EVs themselves. But with expenses rising, there may also be opportunities in disrupting the consumer cost burdens in this space.
Americans are falling behind on their auto loans at the highest rate in almost 30 years with 6.1% of subprime auto borrowers past due on their loans by at least 60 days last month. Insurance and personal finance are tough nuts to disrupt in a risk-off environment, but the sectors have also brought some of the most successful SPAC deals of the past decade.
Limbach Holdings (NASDAQ:LMB) continues to trade above $28 seven years out from its combination with 1347 Capital. CF I closed with FGL a year later and it was later acquired for $12.50 per share in 2020, followed by Easterly‘s combination with SiriusPoint (NYSE:SPNT) in 2018 and Tiberius‘ deal wtih INTL General Insurance (NASDAQ:IGIC) in 2020 with both de-SPACs trading above $10 today.
News and Rumors
- Variety: FaZe Clan (NASDAQ:FAZE) has agreed to be acquired by peer GameSquare (NASDAQ:GAME) in an all stock transaction 15 months after combining with B. Riley Principal 150.
- Motley Fool: Cathie Wood buys up 5,000,000 shares of Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) across her ETFs as the Soaring Eagle merger partner continues to struggle with profitability.
- Reuters: Next.e.GO (NASDAQ:EGOX) plans three new factories in Europe and the US as next step after its combination with Athena Consumer last week.
At the SPAC of Dawn After an up-and-down week on the market, all eyes are set to be glued to this morning’s Consumer Price Index readouts for signs of where the Fed might take its rate-cut strategy. US exchanges had a slightly positive day in reaction to Core PPI coming in at 0.1% for December...
Ribbon Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:RIBBU) announced the pricing of its $50 million IPO and its units are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol “RIBBU”, Wednesday, January 15, 2025. The new SPAC intends to take a generalist approach in searching for a business combination, but will not consider targets located in China. Ribbon’s...
Plum Acquisition Corp. IV (NASDAQ:PLMKU) announced the pricing of its $150 million IPO and its units are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol “PLMKU”, Wednesday, January 15, 2025. The new SPAC intends to take a broad approach in searching for a business combination that leverages its team’s global network of contacts....
At the SPAC of Dawn It has clearly taken some time for SPACs to break out from their niche, but SPACs and de-SPACs are suddenly everywhere in current events. As the Russian invasion of Ukraine drags on, one of the most prolific SPAC teams has stepped forward with a letter of intent to take Ukraine’s...
Live Oak Acquisition Corp. V (NASDAQ:LOKVU) has filed for a $200 million IPO that brings another serial SPAC team back to the mix for a generalist search but with a pair of technology deals already in their pocket. The new S-1 also puts Santander on the board for the 2025 SPAC market after it made...