Monday evening, Monocle Acquisition Corporation (MNCL), filed for $150 million SPAC IPO. Monocle is being led by Eric Zahler, as President, CEO and Director, and is a co-founder and Managing Director of Sagamore Capital, a private equity firm pursuing investments in the aerospace and defense, industrial electronics and selected business service markets. Sai S. Devabhaktuni, formerly the Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Distressed Portfolio Management at PIMCO, will be Chairman of the Board of Directors.
As for the name “Monocle”, The Monocle Group LLC is an investment firm founded by Mr. Devabhaktuni that invests in inefficient markets with an emphasis on debt, equity and other obligations of financially stressed businesses. Although, it does conjure up images of Mr. Peanut.
Looking at this SPAC’s structure, we see a 100% in trust, one share + one warrant deal, with 21 months to find an acquisition. However, if Monocle needs a three month extension for a full 24 months, they must deposit into the trust account $1,500,000, or $0.10 per share.
Furthermore, Cowen is participating in the at-risk capital of $5 million, by purchasing 83,333 units of the total 500,000 units at $10.00. $833,330 is a size-able purchase by an underwriter, so Cowen has a considerable amount at risk too.
This is a fairly middle of the road SPAC – mid size, mid-terms, mid-team. As for the terms, given the current SPAC climate, it will be interesting to see if they need to amend by over-funding the trust to 101% or coming down to 18 months once it gets closer to pricing.
However, this does make SPAC #45 if it prices in 2018. There should be one or two more that file this year, but it remains to be seen if those price in December or January. Stay tuned.
Cowen and Chardan are joint book-running managers.
Greenberg Traurig, LLP and Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP are issuer’s counsel and underwriter’s counsel, respectively.
At the SPAC of Dawn After a tepid month for SPAC activity in April, prominent teams are already scheduling things to make for some fireworks in early May. AltC (NYSE:ALCC) has already been turning heads as being the rare SPAC to trade significantly above trust value before close, and it has now booked the completion...
At the SPAC of Dawn There are signs that the macro environment for SPACs is gradually improving, but the Screaming Eagle team yesterday announced a non-redemption agreement for its combination with Lionsgate Studios. Such agreements are generally a lever one pulls when a SPAC expects a potentially turbulent closing. All in all, the terms for...
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...