Fintech-Focused SPAC Far Point Acquisition Corporation to Begin Trading Tuesday
This evening, Far Point announced the pricing of their $550 million, Third Point sponsored SPAC. The unit will begin trading Tuesday morning under the symbol FPAC.U.
This deal was hot, hot, hot. It started as a $400 million IPO, was upsized to $500 million and finally, upsized again to $550 million tonight. As a side note, I was personally, slightly more excited about this SPAC than GS Acquisition. Not to say that I didn’t like GS Acquisition (I did), but if I had to choose between the two, I would choose Far Point. Why? Less conflicts of interest (GS had a laundry list of conflicts with Goldman and a non-compete with David Cote and Honeywell, which may or may not be significant, but they’re there….) and I think the sector focus of Far Point edges GS out – Fintech vs. Industrials, for GS. However, based on our SPACInsider Poll, I was in the minority (62.5% voted in favor of GS vs. 25.0% for Far Point, and 12.5% for neither).
Regardless, both are massive, high-profile SPAC deals with similar structures and I expect both to present A+ business combinations. (Anyone want to place any bets on which presents the better acquisition?) As a reminder, I’ve listed below the summary IPO terms, but you can also find them here.
Summary of terms are as follows:
- $10.00 unit comprised of one share of Class A common Stock and one-third of a full warrant
- 100% held in trust ($10.00 per share)
- 24 months to announce an acquisition (+ 3 month extension with LOI)
- Warrant Redemption Price: $18.00
- Redemption Rights: limitation of 15% of the shares sold in the IPO
- Sponsored by Far Point LLC, an affiliate of Third Point LLC
- Forward Purchase Agreement: capped at the amount of redeeming shares over 20 million (40% of the IPO)
- Underwriter fees: 2.0% + 3.5% deferred fee
Congratulations to the Underwriters – Credit Suisse and BofA Merrill Lynch as book-runners. Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP, were Issuer’s and Underwriter’s Counsel, respectively.
Israeli tech firms have made up an outsized proportion of SPAC activity and despite the ongoing tensions in its region, that dealmaking is continuing unabated. In fact, the SPAC named for the particular mission of taking Israeli firms public through SPACs, Israel Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:ISRL) in fact just took one step closer in completing that...
At the SPAC of Dawn Although the market has largely recovered from a negative stretch last week, the roller coaster is tilted back downward for Trump Media (NASDAQ:DJT), which slid -8% yesterday to $32.57 – one of its lowest points since closing with Digital World last month. Other SPACs and de-SPACs are having a more...
Remember the metaverse? Many do not. Meta’s (NASDAQ:META) attempted transition to virtually living and working seemed to mark a trend that went up and down quickly, but one SPAC deal has both survived that roller coaster and may rise with a second. Back in December 2022, Newbury Street (NASDAQ:NBST) announced a $1.85 billion combination with...
At the SPAC of Dawn Tucked into the bill that provides $95 billion in funding to American allies passed by the House this weekend is another measure that is likely to have far more impact on at least one pending deal in SPAC world. It would appear that the timing was fortuitous for TikTok rival...
With the passage this weekend of $95 billion in funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan by the House of Representatives, some focus has gone back towards the defense sector, which has generally had a good year as a whole. But, SPACs have not been as active in defense, despite the fact that companies in the...