The Latest SPAC News and Rumors: February 1, 2023

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

Latest SPAC News: Hollywood’s Chernin, Banijay’s owner in talks to buy ITV Studios, Westrock Coffee to develop new distribution center, and NRC begins public engagement for TRISO-X nuclear fuel facility license 

Hollywood’s Chernin, Banijay’s owner in talks on ITV Studios

Veteran Hollywood producer Peter Chernin and the owner of French TV production group Banijay have expressed an interest in buying a stake in UK broadcaster ITV’s Studios, the maker of hit show “Love Island”, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Shares in ITV rose more than 3% in early Wednesday trading to a 10-month high.

Banijay, which produces reality shows such as “Big Brother”, “MasterChef” and “Survivor”, became part of French entrepreneur Stephane Courbit’s FL Entertainment in a SPAC listing in July. It has made more than 25 acquisitions since 2008.

Westrock Coffee Announces Development of New Distribution Center in Conway, Arkansas

Westrock Coffee Company (Nasdaq: WEST), a leading integrated coffee, tea, flavors, extracts, and ingredients solutions provider to the retail, foodservice and restaurant, convenience store and travel center, non-commercial, CPG, and hospitality industries, announced today an agreement to develop a 530,000-square-foot distribution center with Tempus Realty Partners, an Arkansas-based real estate investment partnership that was represented by Colliers | Arkansas. The 30-acre site is conveniently located near heavily trafficked I-40 in Conway, just 30 miles from Little Rock.

Westrock Coffee completed its merger with Riverview in August 2022.

NRC Begins Public Engagement for TRISO-X Advanced Nuclear Fuel Facility License Application

TRISO-X LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of X-Energy Reactor Company, LLC, a leading developer of advanced small modular nuclear reactors and fuel technology for clean energy generation, marked another step forward in the licensing of its fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission hosted its first public meeting for the proposed facility. TRISO-X has requested a 40-year license to possess and use special nuclear material to manufacture advanced nuclear fuel at what will be the first-ever commercial-scale fuel fabrication facility focusing on the use of high-assay low-enriched uranium (“HALEU”).

Ares Acquisition Corporation (NYSE:AAC) announced its business combination with nuclear power company X-energy in December 2022.

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Crypto Class Lawsuits Doubled, SPAC Suits Sank in 2022

Investors filed 23 new proposed class actions over cryptocurrency that weren’t related to mergers and acquisitions in 2022, more than twice the number filed in 2021, while fewer investors sued over special-purpose acquisition companies than the year before, according to a report from Cornerstone Research.

Overall, proposed securities class actions, including those related to M&As, declined from 218 to 208, the report says. But excluding the M&A suits—focusing on what Cornerstone calls the “core filings”—would-be class actions increased in 2022, it says.