Morning Roundup: January 9, 2024

At the SPAC of Dawn

SPAC votes are picking back up today with Denali Capital‘s (NASDAQ:DECA) rescheduled special meeting to approve its combination with Longevity Biomedical and four other extension votes.

All but one of these SPACs seeking an extension – OCA (NASDAQ:OCAX), Global Partner II (NASDAQ:GPAC), Western Acquisition Ventures (NASDAQ:WAVS), and Gores IX (NASDAQ:GHIX) – has an announced deal in hand and only one has experienced major redemptions already to date. As a result, together with Denali, the votes collectively put about $770 million in trust capital at stake in one of first big opportunities to gauge SPAC investor sentiments in early 2024.

One should not expect a radical departure from late 2023 trends in terms of redemptions, but a strong showing in particular by the still-searching Gores IX team in maintaining its $525 million trust through the vote could provide a positive indicator of things to come.

News and Rumors

• SpaceNews: The US military confirmed that it has awarded Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) a $515 million contract to build and operate 18 satellites for the armed forces. Rocket Lab went public in August 2021 with Vector.
• PR: Thermal energy firm Montana Technologies has signed a binding term sheet for a commercial collaboration HVAC manufacturer Carrier (NYSE:CARR) to integrate Montana’s AirJoule technology in its equipment for three years. Montana has a pending combination with Power & Digital II (NASDAQ:XPDB) that is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024.
• PR: NuScale Power (NYSE:SMR), which completed its combination with Spring Valley in 2022, is laying off 154 full-time employees, or 28% of its workforce.