Astrea Acquisition Corp. (ASAX) Terminates HotelPlanner, Reservations.com Deal

Astrea (NASDAQ:ASAX) announced in an 8-K this morning that it mutually terminated its combination agreement with HotelPlanner and Reservations.com over the weekend.

The SPAC’s shareholders were set to vote to complete the transaction at a special meeting tomorrow, February 15, but the parties were likely dissuaded from proceeding after getting a look at the redemption figures. The deal did not include a PIPE, so the three-way combination may not have made sense if redemptions were set to be above 90% as has been the case with many completing deals so far this year.

Astrea made the curious move on Friday of reminding investors that it was not recently de-SPAC’d Astra Space, which itself took a hit after a launch failure that coincided with a fall in Astrea’s share price. This reminder notwithstanding, it went into the weekend at $8.37.

But, the market has so far appreciated its decision to change plans and it is up 16.3% to $9.73 in morning trading.

Astrea still has nearly a full year to give another deal a try with its transaction deadline set for February 8 2023. But, it set out with its IPO to combine with a target in hospitality or fintech, which could continue to be difficult sectors.