Morning Roundup: October 4, 2023

At the SPAC of Dawn

Good morning! Watch this space moving forward as a roundup of evening filings as well as news nuggets you to nibble on beside your morning coffee.

So far, 2023 is shaping up to the be year of the ouster from the House floor to the C-suites of SPACs. Of course, not all defenestrations are the same.

More than a dozen sponsors have sold out their spots at the top of SPACs so far this year, generally gaining compensation for sunk costs and keeping some piece of the potential upside. As such, it may still be a better gig than the thankless job of speaker of the House.

But, as noted in the news links below, former Lordstown CEO Steve Burns may have found an even more fruitful post-script to being shown the door.

Burns was pushed out in June 2021 following a scandal around inflated order numbers the company had made during its de-SPAC process with DiamondPeak. Stock sales by management at this time raised further eyebrows, and Burns reportedly was able to sell about $60 million in stock including 12,457,306 shares just before Lordstown’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Now bankrupt, who should place the winning bid for Lordstown’s assets but Burns himself at a cool $10 million. There is some question as to what Burns will be acquiring as Lordstown EV pickups never made it to mass production and it the company sold its factory in May 2022, but at any rate, the former founder is back on top.

Latest Liquidations and Reversals

• BioPlus Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ:BIOS) intends to liquidate as soon as practicable after October 4, 2023, after terminating their agreement with Avertix Medical, Inc.
• Home Plate Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ:HPLT) cancelled its extension vote scheduled for 3 pm ET October 3 and will instead liquidate at a per-share redemption price of $10.52 beginning October 4.
• Global Partner Acquisition Corp II (NASDAQ:GPAC) reversed its last week’s decision to liquidate has decided that the show must go on! It announced it is also negotiating a non-binding LOI with a target. As such, it has contributed funds to the trust to extend to October 14, but has the ability to extend further to January 14, 2024. Reversing liquidation status has become something of a trend in the past month. Since the end of August, Atlantic Coastal, Crixus BH3 and now Global Partner II have all opted to continue pursing a deal after first announcing their intention to liquidate.