The Latest SPAC News and Rumors: December 1, 2022
Below is a daily summary of links to the latest SPAC news and rumors gathered across the web.
Latest SPAC News: NYSE president says IPO proceeds fall more than 90% while Nasdaq president remains hopeful for 2023, and Giuliani brothers sell pharma stocks as they invest in biotech SPACs
NYSE president says IPO proceeds fall more than 90%
Volatility and market uncertainty have taken a big hit on the number of companies going public, driving down initial public offering proceeds by 93% this year, Lynn Martin, president of the New York Stock Exchange said on Wednesday.
“There is a lot of uncertainty and there’s a lot of different forces that are impacting markets,” said Martin during an interview at the Reuters NEXT conference.
Last year was a record for IPOs at the NYSE, fueled in large part by the boom in special purpose acquisition companies, but that activity has slowed to a trickle as high inflation and rising interest rates have soured market sentiment and SPACs have drawn regulatory scrutiny.
READNasdaq CEO hopeful IPOs will pick up in 2023, calls for more crypto regulation
Adena Friedman, chief executive officer of Nasdaq Inc., said on Wednesday she expects a quiet first half of 2023 for initial public offerings as investors remain cautious, but is hopeful activity will pick up in the second half of the year.
There are currently about 200 companies in the pipeline for initial public offerings on the Nasdaq, which is below the range of the last few years of 250 to 300, Friedman said during an interview at the Reuters NEXT conference.
Last year was a banner year for IPOs at Nasdaq with over 750 new listings, fueled in large part by the boom in special purpose acquisition companies, but that activity has slowed to a trickle as high inflation and rising interest rates have soured market sentiment and SPACs have drawn regulatory scrutiny.
READBrothers Who Made Billions on US Pharma Firm Revamp Health Bets
The Giulianis are selling Royalty Pharma stock as they invest in other health-focused firms, including a SPAC that merged with biotech business ProKidney (Nasdaq: PROK).
The brothers have started cutting their roughly $2.4 billion stake in Royalty Pharma for the first time since its New York listing more than two years ago. Their investment funds have filed to sell up to almost $100 million of stock in the company, which buys pharmaceutical royalties, after offloading about $150 million — or roughly 6% of the holding — in recent months.
Germano, 50, and Giammaria, 44, have meanwhile made more than a dozen investments worldwide this year, mostly in health-related companies. They poured at least $22 million into a blank-check firm co-founded by Chamath Palihapitiya that merged in July with biotech business ProKidney Corp., as well as $16 million into biotech startup ReNAgade Therapeutics and nutrition company BioLumen.