The Latest SPAC News and Rumors: July 11, 2023
Below is a daily summary of links to the latest SPAC news and rumors gathered across the web.
Latest SPAC News: Universal Entertainment execs blamed for failed SPAC merger, DWAC names Eric Swider as new CEO, and Ocean Biomedical’s vaccine candidate demonstrates broad potential to address malaria
Universal Entertainment Executives Blamed for Failed SPAC Merger
Executives at Japan’s Universal Entertainment Corp. spent much of the past year coming up with creative ways to scuttle the $2.6 billion merger of their Okada Manila casino resort unit with a blank-check company, a former partner in the deal told a US judge.
Jason Ader founded 26 Capital Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company, which agreed to combine with the Okada resort to give it a NASDAQ stock listing. But Ader, whose firm sued to revive the failed deal, testified Monday that Universal started working to sabotage the Philippines casino transaction starting in 2022. Universal declared the merger dead on June 30.
READTrump-tied SPAC Digital World names Swider as permanent CEO
Digital World Acquisition (NASDAQ:DWAC) has named Eric Swider as CEO, handing the interim boss reins of the blank-check company that is looking to complete its planned merger with former U.S. President Donald Trump’s media and tech company.
The move comes nearly four months after the special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) ousted CEO Patrick Orlando, saying that a new management team was needed to tackle “unprecedented headwinds”.
READOcean Biomedical’s mRNA-based Vaccine Candidate Generates Over 90% Killing of Malaria Parasites in Non-human Primates, Demonstrating Broad Potential for Ocean’s Program to Address Global and Emerging U.S. Malaria Challenges
Ocean Biomedical, Inc. (NASDAQ:OCEA) a biopharma company working to accelerate the development of compelling discoveries from top research scientists, announced today that it is focusing its multi-pronged malaria program to address the chronic malaria crisis in sub-Saharan Africa while recognizing newly emerging global malaria challenges.
Based on discoveries by Scientific Co-founder, Jonathan Kurtis, MD, PhD, Ocean Biomedical is working on a multivalent mRNA-based malaria vaccine with potential to target several stages in the malaria cycle.