Morning Roundup: November 22, 2023
At the SPAC of Dawn
So far, seven SPACs have announced their liquidations this week and although some others may choose to use the holiday to quietly disband, this tends to be a positive week for equities in general.
Going back to 1961, the S&P 500 has ended the Thanksgiving week with gains three-quarters of the time, according to Yahoo Finance data. That has included some some particularly big bounces in times lacking in cheer.
Over the 61-year sample, the biggest Thanksgiving surge came in the form of a +12% week in 2008 amidst the financial crisis.
The financial services sector itself has fared the worst during this time, but energy companies have consistently come out with gains on the week 74% of the time perhaps helped by the growing chills hitting Northern Hemisphere regions simultaneously.
News and Rumors
- SpaceNews: Satellogic (NASDAQ:SATL) received its remote sensing NOAA license, which is key to its bid to move operations from Uruguay to the US, having closed its combination with CF V in January 2022.
- TechCrunch: Luminar (NASDAQ:LAZR) founder and CEO Austin Russell’s bid to buy Forbes Global Media Holdings has been terminated the agreement after failure to secure investors. Forbes had planned to go public through a merger with Magnum Opus Acquisition Limited (NYSE:OPA), but called off the agreement in June 2022.
- Digital Music News: Anghami (NASDAQ:ANGH), which completed its merger with Vistas Media in 2022, formally unveiled its plans to merge with OSN+, a division of the namesake Panther Media Group-owned OSN.
- AOL: Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform has filed a lawsuit against 20 media organizations for making what it claims to be defamatory statements about the company’s financial losses. Truth Social announced its combination with Digital World (NASDAQ:DWAC) in 2021.
- Bloomberg: Athena Capital, the firm founded by Isabelle Freidheim, is seeking to raise $500 million for an equity and debt capital fund. The fund led by Freidheim, a venture capitalist and chair of three SPACs, plans to invest in both private and public mission-driven companies,
Terminations and Liquidations
- KnightSwan Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: KNSW) will redeem all of its outstanding shares of Class A common stock. As a result, the previously disclosed non-binding letter of intent has been terminated. The last day that the company’s securities will trade on the NYSE will be December 5 and the per-share redemption price for the public shares will be approximately $10.61.
Scheduling Notes
- Nubia Brand International Corp. (NASDAQ:NUBI) has postponed its special meeting to approve its combination with Honeycomb Battery to 9 am ET December 5. Shareholders will now have until 5 pm ET December 1 to make final redemption decisions.