The Latest SPAC News and Rumors: September 21, 2023
Below is a daily summary of links to the latest SPAC news and rumors gathered across the web.
JSE reviewing listing requirements with aim to simplify them
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange will be reviewing all its listings requirements with the objective of further simplifying its requirements, as part of its ongoing efforts to create an enabling listing environment and attract local and international listings. […]
The JSE said that although its current special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) offering is accessible and flexible, it has made amendments to align with international leading markets to ensure the attractiveness and competitiveness of SPACs to issuers and investors, it said.
Further, in terms of free float for new listings, the JSE has reduced the 20% free float threshold to 10%, as it has been identified as a deterrent to listing.
READBetter Therapeutics SPAC Deal Dispute Nears Anticlimactic Ending
Litigation challenging the blank-check transaction that took Better Therapeutics Inc. public is set to end with a whimper after the deal’s architects failed to answer the investor lawsuit filed in Delaware.
Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III issued a default judgment Wednesday against Mountain Crest Capital LLC affiliates who engineered the $187 million merger between Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp. II and Better Therapeutics, a biotech business focused on cardiometabolic diseases. The two-page ruling left open the amount of any potential damages.
Mountain Crest, headquartered in South Carolina, didn’t respond to requests for comment Wednesday or after the shareholder complaint was filed.
Cathie Wood Just Sold Shopify and Bought Genius Sports
Late last week, sports data company Genius Sports (GENI -0.28%) plunged more than 10% in just one trading session. Interestingly, tech investor and CEO of Ark Invest, Cathie Wood, took advantage of the depressed stock price by adding 1.27 million shares to her position in the company.
On the same day, Wood also sold roughly 66,000 shares of e-commerce company Shopify. Perhaps this shouldn’t be too surprising, as Wood has cut her position in Shopify by nearly half since April.
What happened? On Sept. 14, Genius Sports announced hat its largest investor, Apax Partners, was selling 20 million shares as part of a secondary offering.
Following its SPAC merger and subsequent lawsuit, IronNet is looking at bankruptcy
IronNet, a McLean, Virginia cybersecurity firm, is in the midst of financial trouble, according to a recent filing.
The company said, in the document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, that it furloughed “almost all” of its employees and curtailed business operations. The filing states that IronNet has substantial doubt about its ability to continue, and unless additional funds become available, the company may need to file for bankruptcy or liquidation.
In 2021, the company went public via a SPAC merger with LGL Systems. The company has now been delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. Last year, a lawsuit was filed claiming that IronNet misled investors and made false promises about government contracts and revenue dollars.
READHony Looks to Raise SPAC in Hong Kong
Chinese private equity firm Hony Capital has filed to raise a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in Hong Kong, having previously failed to get traction with a similar structure in the US.
Everest Acquisition Corp. is a joint effort between Hony Partners Group and ABCI Capital, an offshore investment arm of Agricultural Bank of China (ABC).