Morning Roundup: November 1, 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.
Even with Halloween now passed, it has been a spooky week for deals trying to make it to close without getting the chop.
Two more SPACs announced they would terminate their deals and liquidate over the past 24 hours, adding to two deals that got the axe yesterday. That makes for one of the bloodiest two-day periods in recent SPAC history.
Those five deals still represent just a small fraction of the 160 announced SPAC deals still working to close, but 112 of them currently have a month or less left on their SPAC’s transaction deadline. So, the bloodletting could continue.
Many of these have the ability to automatically extend, but redemptions at votes have prompted a number of the recent breakups. There are still seven votes for either extensions or completions set for the back half of this week.
News and Rumors
- WSJ: WeWork (NYSE:WE) reportedly plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey as early as next week, two years out from its combination with BowX.
- Bloomberg Law: Getty (NYSE:GETY) has been ordered to pay $88 million to three investment funds for improperly refusing to allow them to exercise their warrants following Getty’s combination with CC Neuberger II in July 2022. Getty called all warrants in September of that year, but spiked up to $32.20 in the two months in between.
- Bloomberg: Velo3D (NYSE:VLD) is pursuing strategic options including a possible sale, having gone public in a merger with JAWS Spitfire in October 2021.
Non-Redemption Agreements
- Battery Future Acquisition Corp. (NYSE:BFAC) entered into non-redemption agreements with unaffiliated third parties in exchange for investors agreeing to not redeem an aggregate of 3,563,000 Class A ordinary shares. In exchange, the sponsor will transfer to the investors up to an aggregate of 712,600 Class B ordinary shares at the closing of a business combination.
Liquidations
- Chain Bridge I (NASDAQ: CBRG) announced that it will redeem all of its outstanding Class A ordinary shares, effective as of the close of business on November 15. The per-share redemption price for the public shares will be approximately $10.80.
- Industrial Tech Acquisitions II (NASDAQ:ITAQ) has mutually terminated its combination with NEXT Renewable Fuels and the SPAC will now liquidate within 10 business days of October 30. It expects its redemption price to be approximately $11 per share after $50,000 in dissolution expenses.
Scheduling Notes
- Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp. IV (NYSE:MCAF) convened its special meeting on October 30 at 10:30 a.m., but shareholders have decided to adjourn the meeting until November 20 at 10:00 a.m. Shareholders will vote on a proposal to approve the SPAC’s $1.2 billion business combination with CH-AUTO.