Below is a daily summary of links to the latest SPAC news and rumors gathered across the web.
SPAC market resurfaces, SEC taps law professor to run unit that reviews SPACs, Hims & Hers buys Honest Health, and India plans to build framework for SPACs
SPAC IPO Market Slowly Resurfaces With Play-It-Safe Accounting
The blank-check companies that captivated Wall Street for a year are playing it safe with their accounting as the market slowly recovers from a financial reporting crackdown that halted IPOs.
The majority of the almost three dozen SPACs that went public since the SEC’s market-jolting accounting announcement in mid-April are sticking to what they know: the same investor terms and incentives they used prior to the SEC’s warning, according to Bloomberg Tax.
The upshot is that SPACs may not want warrants with terms that make them report the money-raising incentives as liabilities on their balance sheets, but no one wants to be an outlier, said Angela Veal, managing director at Eisner Amper LLP.
READSEC Gets New Leader To Review SPACs
SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s leadership team is taking shape with law professor Renee Jones being tapped to run the unit that reviews blank-check companies and will work on rules for corporations’ climate disclosures.
Jones, who taught courses at Boston College Law School, will head the SEC’s division of corporation finance, according to a Monday statement.
Her appointment is a departure from the agency’s typical practice of naming a corporate lawyer to run the unit, which examines filings for IPOs and SPACs. Jones is also the first Black woman to lead one of the SEC’s four major divisions.
READTelehealth Company Hims & Hers to Buy U.K.’s Honest Health
Telehealth company Hims & Hers Health Inc. said late Monday it has agreed to buy London-based health platform Honest Health for an undisclosed amount. Honest Health offers hair loss-related products, including access to compounded products.
“The proposed transaction provides Hims & Hers with best-in-class operational capability and infrastructure to support the beginnings of the company’s long-term plans for expansion” across the U.K. and western Europe, Hims and Hers said in a statement to Market Watch.
The deal is expected to close in the second fiscal quarter of this year, the company said. Shares of Hims and Hers fell 0.6% in the extended session Monday after ending the regular trading day up 5.7%. The stock began trading in January after a merger with a SPAC.
READAs Indian Startups Explore SPACs Abroad, SEBI Considers Framework To Promote Domestic Listings
India’s securities and market regulator the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) plans to build a dedicated framework on SPACs to allow such ‘non-operational’ entities to also raise funds in initial share sales and list locally, according to reports. Currently, SEBI allows listing of only operational companies with reported financials.
To allow SPACs in India, SEBI has to either introduce a separate law or amend current regulations to allow listing of ‘non-operating’ or ‘investment’ companies, industry officials aware of the development told ET.
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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...