Morning Roundup: October 20, 2023
At the SPAC of Dawn
Good morning! Watch this space moving forward as a roundup of evening filings as well as news nuggets to nibble on beside your morning coffee.
President Joe Biden took to the airwaves last night to assert a message of American leadership over growing crises abroad.
This may assuage those in the affected areas but the markets have had their eyes more squarely on fights nearer to home. As the House Speaker chair remained empty, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell had his usual up-and-down affects on the market with a speech to the Economic Club of New York, explaining that monetary policy was probably tight enough, but the labor market remains too tight for a change.
That could be cold comfort for SPACs hunting in growth sectors, but should in theory be a positive signal for those looking for targets in consumer staples and construction. That has been the case for Riverview‘s Westrock Coffee (NASDAQ:WEST) and SilverBox I‘s Black Rifle Coffee (NYSE:BRCC), up +2.3% and +5.5% in the aftermarket, respectively.
But it didn’t carry over to construction de-SPACs the day of the speech. DiamondHead‘s homebuilding de-SPAC United Homes (NASDAQ:UHG) and Legato II‘s infrastructure construction de-SPAC Southland (NYSE:SLND) were down -1% and 3.9% on the day and more in the aftermarket.
A new entrant could be coming soon to test this trend from a different angle, however, as two (NYSE:TWOA) approaches close with LatAm Logistics Properties, an investor in high-end industrial locations for use as warehouses and fulfillment centers in Costa Rica, Colombia and Peru.
News and Rumors
- AFN: Moolec Science (NASDAQ:MLEC), which combined with LightJump in December 2022 secured $30 million in funding from Grupo Insud made up of $21 million in convertible notes and roughly $10 million-worth of in-kind contributions from giving Moolec access to industrial capabilities.
- Innovation Map: Nauticus Robotics Inc. (NASDAQ:KITT), which completed its combination with CleanTech in September 2022, announced it has acquired underwater lidar specialist 3D at Depth in a $34 million stock transaction.
- SCMedia: Collapse of LGL‘s cybersecurity target IronNet (OTC:IRNT) likely a harbinger of trouble among other listed cybersecurity firms that have prized growth over profit and stuck too closely to niches.
- Reuters: Law firm sues SPAC trustee Continental in attempt to prevent it from dispersing trust funds to shareholders amid 26 Capital‘s messy failed merger with Okada Manila.
Scheduling Notes
- Vision Sensing Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:VSAC) has postponed its extension meeting, scheduled to occur at 8:30 a.m. EDT on Friday, October 20, until 12:00 noon EDT on Wednesday, October 25.