Morning Roundup: November 2, 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.
Futures are cheery once again on the hints from Fed Chair Jerome Powell that the body could be done with rate hikes.
Any return of optimism in equities is a net positive for SPACs, but Cathie Wood warned that the comments could point not to a reversal of rate hikes, but rather new normal at plateau of rates that are “higher for longer”.
Such an environment may not be enough to bring SPAC King Chamath Palihapitiya back to the kingdom from his year-long exile. Palihapitiya pointedly blamed interest rates on both the recent highs and the lows for SPACs and although the 10-time SPAC sponsor completed his last deal in the space in August 2022, four more of his vehicles were left to liquidate in the year that followed.
The last of these, Social Capital Suvretta Holdings Corp. II liquidated just over four months ago in June. Other serial SPAC sponsors appear to be getting back into the hunt, however.
Riverstone, which sponsored the two Silver Run SPACs and four SPACs under the Decarbonization Plus name refreshed their filing for a $300 million IPO for Agriculture & Natural Solutions late last month, while the FG Merger team did the same having completed their first SPAC‘s combination with iCoreConnnect (NASDAQ:ICCT) in August.
Deals and Amendments
- Long rumored, Aetherium Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:GMFI) confirmed in an 8-K this morning that it has signed an LOI to combine with Capital A Bhd’s AirAsia brand loyalty and aircraft leasing units at a $1 billion valuation.
- Brilliant Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ:BRLI) has amended its combination with crypto payments firm Nukkleus, reducing the share compensation that the target is to receive by -25% to 10,500,000 from 14,000,000. The two sides will also revise the composition of the combined company’s Board.
News and Rumors
- JDSUPRA: Li-Cycle (NYSE:LICY) won its motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by investors claiming it made false and misleading statements in the proxy materials for its 2021 combination with Peridot.
- TechCabal: Swvl (NASDAQ:SWVL), which went public with Queen’s Gambit in March 2022, finally released its 2022 financials after many months of restating figures due to the reversal of several attempted peer mergers that year. They showed it doubled revenue to $51.5 million, but had operating losses of -$82.4 million.
- WSJ: WeWork (NYSE:WE) is planning on filing for bankruptcy as early as next week, marking a stunning reversal for the flexible space provider that was once valued at $47 billion. WeWork went public with BowX in October 2021.
- Billboard: LiveOne (NASDAQ:LVO) CEO Robert Ellin explained in an interview why he pulled out of a spinoff of its Slacker platform with Roth CH V (NASDAQ:ROCL), saying “Market conditions for micro-cap stocks, for stocks under $1 billion, are just decimated this year as a whole”.
- Forbes: Digital World‘s (NASDAQ:DWAC) restated financials revealed that an SEC probe effectively cost the SPAC $10.8 million in legal fees in addition to the $18 million penalty it must pay to the regulator if it completes its combination with Trump Media & Technology Group.
- BloombergLaw: The failed merger between 26 Capital and Philipine resort Okada Manila has drawn yet another lawsuit, this time from Zama Capital Master Fund against 26 Capital CEO and Chairman Jason Ader, seeking his ouster from the SPAC’s sponsor organization.
Scheduling Notes
- Integral Acquisition Corporation 1 (NASDAQ:INTE) convened its extension meeting as scheduled, but then adjourned it until 2:00 pm ET on November 2. Shareholders will be voting on an extension proposal to push its completion deadline from November 3 to November 5, 2024.