The Latest SPAC News and Rumors: June 23, 2021
Below is a daily summary of links to the latest SPAC news and rumors gathered across the web.
Latest SPAC News: Thiel-backed crypto exchange eyes SPAC merger with Far Peak, Bowlero in talks to merge with Isos while Sternlicht and SEC Chair Gensler call for more oversight and transparency on SPACs
Thiel-Backed Crypto Exchange Bullish is in SPAC Merger Talks
Cryptocurrency exchange Bullish, backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, is in talks to merge with SPAC Far Peak Acquisition Corp.
The blank-check company is discussing a deal that could value Bullish at as much as $12 billion, but the final valuation could change depending on the price of Bitcoin.
An agreement could be reached as soon as the next few weeks. The SPAC has already received interest from investors about taking part in a PIPE transaction, which could extend into the hundreds of millions of dollars, to help fund a deal.
READBowlero in Merger Talks With SPAC Led by Ex-WWE Executives
Bowling center operator Bowlero Corp. is in talks to go public through a merger with blank-check firm Isos Acquisition Corp., people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.
Isos is in discussions to raise new equity to support a transaction that’s set to value the combined entity at about $2.6 billion. Shares surged as much as 4.2% after Bloomberg News reported the talks.
READSternlicht Sees Clover As Sign SPACs Need Reining In
Property billionaire Barry Sternlicht said SPACs are in need of further oversight from the SEC, and pointed at Clover Health Investments Corp. as a sign of a bubble.
“The stock market is detached from reality,” he said in a virtual panel discussion on Wednesday at Bloomberg’s Qatar Economic Forum. “Clover Health Care is basically a fraud, is trading at $16 a share, and it keeps going up. The more you say it is going out of business, the higher the stock goes.”
Sternlicht, despite recently pricing two new IPOs of his own in the past two weeks to add to his three other JAWs SPACs, and a sixth SPAC currently getting ready to IPO, said that he hoped the trend had peaked.
READSEC Chair Gensler Says SPACs Need More Transparency
Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler talks about ways to boost transparency around SPACs.
The SEC chief said he wants to make sure that mom-and-pop investors don’t lose out to larger, more sophisticated players especially when they are putting their money in SPACs.
READSPACs and Traditional IPOs: An Offshore Perspective
As more SPACs list outside the US, an increasing number of de-SPAC transactions and greater interest from Asia-based sponsors, it is expected the use of Cayman, BVI and other offshore companies will continue to increase in relation to Asia-connected SPAC deals.
It remains to be seen which Asian exchange will become the region’s go-to for SPACs and whether Asia will be the next to see the SPAC boom. What is certain is that Cayman and BVI will continue to remain central to global capital and M&A markets as more Asia based SPACs are launched and large numbers of existing cashed-up SPACs race to identify merger targets, according to Lexology.
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