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.

With futures up, there is potential that this morning sees movement from investors looking to cash in on the ole’ Halloween Indicator.

The seasonal investment strategy is about as old as “sell in May and go away” and there is recent evidence that it is more of a winner. From 1985 to 2021, an investor buying into the S&P 500 on Halloween and selling again at the end of April would have generated an average of 7.7% annual returns, according to a JP Morgan study.

S&P was in an up market for 29 of those 35 years and during during those up periods, the Halloween Indicator generated 11% returns. During the down periods, it lost -6.3%, but this was still better than the returns for “Sell in May”, which lost -9.5% during the downs, gained 6.75% during up periods and 2.23% on average.

So that is in the aggregate, but on a year-to-year basis the Halloween play only truly hits one out of four years. It may not be magic at all, but political intrigue that drives this difference. As Dow Jones contributor Mark Hulbert points out, that one year out of four where Halloween gives out the good candy to investors also coincides with midterm elections.

With uncertainty already priced in about where economic policy is going to stand post-midterms, there is generally value to be had when the dust settles, regardless of who wins, Hulbert writes. But, for all of scares that 2023 has brought so far, a federal election is not one of them.

Deal Amendments and New Funding

• Catcha Investment Corp. (NYSE:CHAA) entered into a $750,000 subscription agreement with Polar Multi-Strategy Master Fund in exchange for 750,000 shares of Class A common stock at the closing of a business combination. Polar is to receive $1.75 million in cash or should the agreement be terminated or if Catcha does does not complete its pending combination with Crown LNG by February 17, 2024.

News and Rumors

• PR: LanzaTech (NASDAQ:LNZA) formed a joint venture in Saudia Arabia with the Olayan Financing Company to accelerate the deployment of its carbon recycling technologies in the Kingdom. LanzaTech, which combined with AMCI II in February, plans to deploy projects to turn oilfield carbons into consumer raw materials and sustainable aviation fuel.

• PR: Lexasure, which announced a $250 million combination with Capitalworks Emerging Markets (NASDAQ:CMCA) in March, unveiled its B2B risk management portal for reinsurance on the LexasureCloud 1.0 platform at the Singapore International Reinsurance Conference.

International SPACs

• Reuters: Financials Acquisition Corp (LON:FINS) said Monday it would ask shareholders to back its planned £300 million ($365 million) merger with its newly formed insurance venture, in a test of investor appetite for new stocks.

• BNN Bloomberg: Singapore-listed Pegasus Asia (SI:PGS) is nearing a deal to combine with satellite internet provider Kacific that would value the combined entity at around $600 million.

Non-Redemption Agreements

• Concord Acquisition Corp. III (NYSE:CNDB) intends to enter into non-redemption agreements with certain stockholders which will provide for the allocation to each such stockholder of a number of shares of Class A Common Stock and the sponsor will surrender a number of shares of Class B common stock equal to the number of promote shares.

Liquidations

• Ares Acquisition Corporation (NYSE:AAC) has mutually terminated its combination with nuclear energy firm X-energy and will liquidate on or about November 7 at a redemption rate of $10.79. The SPAC’s backer, Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) has agreed instead to make a private investment in X-energy to help support its coming development.
• Artemis Strategic Investment Corporation (NASDAQ:ARTE) and Danam Health, Inc. have mutually agreed to terminate their business combination previously announced in August. As a result, the SPAC intends to liquidate as of the close of business on October 26, and will redeem all of the outstanding shares at a redemption price equal to the aggregate amount in the trust, divided by the number of outstanding shares.