The Latest SPAC News and Rumors: November 16, 2022

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The Latest SPAC News and Rumors: November 16, 2022

 


Below is a daily summary of links to the latest SPAC news and rumors gathered across the web. 

Latest SPAC News: Surf Air files for direct listing, Otonomo in talks to merge with UK auto-tech rival Wejo, and Forbes could sell for $800 million 


Surf Air confidentially files for direct listing after ending SPAC deal

Electric aviation and regional air travel company Surf Air Mobility said on Wednesday it had confidentially filed for a direct listing in the United States after terminating its $1.42 billion merger deal with a blank check firm.

The deal with SPAC Tuscan Holdings Corp II (NASDAQ:THCA), which would have fetched Surf Air $467 million in cash proceeds, was called off mutually, the companies said.

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Otonomo in talks to merge with UK auto-tech rival Wejo

Two auto-tech companies, which began publicly trading after SPAC mergers last year, and have since lost most of their value, could be set for a merger. Israeli auto-tech company Otonomo Technologies (Nasdaq: OTOM) is in talks with its UK rival Wejo Group (Nasdaq: Wejo) about a possible merger, according to market sources.

If such a merger were to be completed, Otonomo would be valued at $150 million, significantly higher than its current market cap of just $52 million but 96% lower than its valuation of $1.26 billion, when its SPAC merger was completed in the summer of 2021.

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Forbes bidding group includes SUN Group, GSV

After a chaotic path ended in a failed SPAC IPO earlier this year, Forbes Media is now in exclusive talks to sell to a consortium of investors that includes India-based SUN Group and GSV Ventures, Axios has learned, in a deal that could fetch around $800 million.

Prior to striking the SPAC deal, Forbes held talks with GSV and other potential buyers such as software firm Block.one. The Forbes bidding consortium includes SUN Group, a family-owned Indian investment firm led by vice chairman Shiv Khemka, and GSV Ventures, a U.S. based investment firm, according to a source familiar with the matter.

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Lucid gives first look at its luxury Gravity SUV as it begins to deliver cheaper Air Touring EV

Lucid Motors (NASDAQ:LCID) is finally giving a first look at its luxury all-electric Gravity SUV. New images released by the automaker Tuesday show off a spacious three-row interior with dual center seats that have leg rests that can recline and an exterior that features a swooping all-glass roof.

Gravity is the automaker’s second vehicle model to be revealed. In a press release, Lucid’s SVP of design Derek Jenkins says the company is “sparing no opportunity to build on everything we learned with Lucid Air,” the automaker’s luxury electric sedan and first vehicle.

Hints about Lucid’s SUV started as early as 2019 when then-chief technology officer Peter Rawlinson (now also CEO) told The Verge that plans for an SUV were “quite possible.” But the SUV would not get mentioned again until the company went public through a SPAC merger in 2021. At the time, the SUV was slated to be released in 2023.

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