ION Acquisition Corp. 1 Ltd. (NYSE:IACA) announced in a press release that its shareholders approved its combination with digital ad firm Taboola at a special meeting earlier today.
The press release mentioned holders of ION Class A ordinary shares reflecting approximately 7% of outstanding shares exercised their right to redeem their shares, but did not give the exact number of shares. It is worth mentioning that SPACs typically do not include information on redemptions in press releases, but given how the past few shareholder meetings have turned out amid June’s merger madness, it is likely the market would assume high redemptions if nothing is said. So in this case, 7% redemptions in connection with the business combination is a relatively solid outcome and worth pointing out. Approximately 99% of the votes cast at the meeting voted to approve the transaction.
The transaction is expected to close tomorrow on June 29, and the combined entity’s shares and warrants will start trading on the Nasdaq under the new symbols “TBLA” and “TBLAW”, respectively, on June 30. The company recently transfered its ION units from the NYSE to the Nasdaq as the company will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Taboola.
ION 1 and Taboola initially announced the $2 billion deal on January 25. Taboola provides digital advertising services for about 13,000 publishers, advertisers and brands with AI-driven recommendation banners on sites in the open web.
The ION team is still rolling out deals and contributing to the pipeline of Israeli tech companies to US exchanges as ION 2 (NYSE:IACB) announced a $1.1 billion combination with ad delivery platform Innovid just last week.
ADVISORS
- Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC acted as lead financial and capital markets advisor to Taboola and also acted as lead placement agent on the PIPE.
- J.P. Morgan Securities LLC also acted as a financial advisor to Taboola.
- Latham & Watkins LLP, Meitar Law Offices and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP acted as legal counsel to Taboola.
- Cowen acted as sole financial and capital markets advisor to ION and also acted as placement agent on the PIPE.
- White & Case LLP and Goldfarb Seligman & Co. acted as legal counsel to ION.
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...
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...