At the SPAC of Dawn
A largely positive week is coming to end with a summit that appears to have brought an autumn chill to simmering tensions between the US and China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden each offered olive branches and offhand “dictator” comments aside, both appeared to want to strike a more productive tone heading into 2024. The pandas are coming back, some sanctions will be eased and both sides projected confidence that nothing dramatic would happen over Taiwan in the near future.
Interestingly, Xi appears to have displayed the greater desire of the two for reversing several years of raising tension. Foreign investment in China has been dropping and the combination of a real estate slump and punitive measures by two successive US administrations have contributed.
But, while the photo ops may not persuade major companies to go back on their decisions to pull back from China, SPACs are increasingly playing a role in pulling other foreign capital in. Eight of the 14 new SPACs to file for IPOs so far in the second half of 2023 have been led by Asia-based teams leading Asia-focused search processes with most of them hailing from and searching within China specifically.
Three of these vehicles have since completed their IPOs and are now on the hunt – Global Lights (NASDAQ:GLAC), Quetta (NASDAQ:QETA), and Spark I (NASDAQ:SPKL).
Deals
- Bellevue Life Sciences Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:BLAC) has signed a definitive agreement to combine with Korean healthcare holding company OSR. The two parties initially announced a letter of intent in July.
News and Rumors
- UK Tech: Embattled mobility startup Arrival, which terminated a second SPAC combination with Kensington Capital V (NYSE:KCGI) after initially going public with CIIG, has secured a $50m (£40.3m) loan from its existing investors for a “potential sale or strategic alternative transaction.”
Sponsor Economics Sales
- International Media Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:IMAQ) entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement with JC Unify Capital and its sponsor to sell its 4,125,000 promote shares (75%) and 597,675 private placement units (25%) for $1.00.
Aimei Health Technology Co., Ltd (NASDAQ: AFJKU) announced the pricing of its $60 million IPO this evening. Its units are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol “AFJKU” on Monday, December 4, 2023. After the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, the Class A ordinary shares and rights are expected to...
PROOF Acquisition Corp I (NYSE: PACI) announced this afternoon that it has closed its business combination with private aviation company Volato after shareholders approved the deal at a meeting on November 28. In total, including previous shareholder votes, shareholders opted to redeem an aggregate of 99.93% of PACI’s trust, leaving it with less than $215,000...
Adit EdTech (NYSE: ADEX) announced this morning that its shareholders have approved its business combination with bitcoin self-mining company Griid Infrastructure at a special meeting held yesterday, November 30. A total of 8,520,710 shares of common stock, representing approximately 95.7% of the outstanding shares entitled to vote, were present at the meeting, constituting a quorum...
At the SPAC of Dawn There had been hopes that this week would take one world conflict off the board, but combat has resumed in the Middle East as other eyes are likely to be fixed on new Fed comments today. The fighting in Gaza continues to not appear to have appreciable affects on the...
Chavant Capital Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:CLAY) announced in an 8-K filing this afternoon that it has amended its business combination agreement with Mobix Labs. The amendment involves specific alterations to the exchange ratio, now set at a one-to-one ratio to determine how many shares of Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock Mobix Labs’...