Ibrahim said the performance of the two companies shouldn’t deter others, given the gloomy market environment overall. “It doesn’t have to do with the product itself,” he said, referring to SPACs.
The Latest SPAC News and Rumors: July 1, 2022
by Marlena Haddad on 2022-07-01 at 11:36am
Below is a daily summary of links to the latest SPAC news and rumors gathered across the web.
Latest SPAC News: eToro to abandon Fintech V deal, NYSE pitches US listings to Middle Eastern tech firms, and experts say lack of education threatens future of SPACs in UAE
Israel eToro to abandon deal to go public via SPAC merger
Online brokerage eToro and Betsy Cohen-backed blank-check firm FinTech Acquisition Corp V (NASDAQ:FTCV) are planning to let the Thursday deadline for their merger pass without closing the deal, The Information reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The companies had amended their agreement in late December to extend the deal deadline to June end and lower the Israel-based online stock brokerage’s valuation to $8.8 billion from $10.4 billion
READNYSE Pitches US Listings to Gulf Tech Firms Amid Global Selloff
The New York Stock Exchange is trying to lure Middle Eastern technology companies to list in the US, promising access to a broader investor base and deeper capital markets, even amid heightened volatility that’s scuppered listings worldwide.
“We have spoken to some companies in the region,” NYSE’s head of international capital markets Alexandre Ibrahim said, without naming the firms. “They could come here without a capital raise or conduct an initial public offering in the capital markets,” he said. “There are a lot of unicorns in the Middle East already.”
Spotify Technology SA rival Anghami (NASDAQ:ANGH) went public on the Nasdaq in February after its merger with a special purpose acquisition company and has since slumped more than 50% amid a broader rout in the SPAC industry. Ride-sharing firm Swvl Holdings Corp., which followed Anghami a few months later after being acquired by a blank-check firm, is down more than 30%.
Lack of investor education threatens future of SPACs in the UAE, experts say
Lack of investor education on SPACs remains a major obstacle for the new ‘listing’ route to take off in a big way in the UAE, market experts said.
The tepid progress of listing through the SPAC route remained a concern amidst the recent boom in IPOs in the country, they said.
The rush for IPO listings in UAE saw the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) approve in January a regulatory framework for SPACs. But the new listing route has not taken off in the same way as traditional IPOs, market experts at a panel discussion organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) held in Dubai pointed out.
READRecent Posts
by Nicholas Alan Clayton on 2024-04-26 at 12:15pm
AI has quietly been creeping to the top of the buzziest sectors for SPAC deals, but it’s become host to an even larger arms race in the private funding market. Elon Musk is currently pushing a $6 billion capital raise for his OpenAI competitor xAI at a valuation of $18 billion, according to TechCrunch, while...
by Nicholas Alan Clayton on 2024-04-26 at 7:41am
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...
by Nicholas Alan Clayton on 2024-04-25 at 8:04am
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...
by Nicholas Alan Clayton on 2024-04-24 at 4:09pm
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...
by Nicholas Alan Clayton on 2024-04-24 at 8:07am
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...