Mudrick II (NASDAQ:MUDS) announced this morning that it has terminated its combination with online jewelry retailer Blue Nile.
The termination comes just weeks after the $683 million deal announcement, which was originally announced on June 13, and Blue Nile will now be subject to pay a hefty termination fee of up to $10 million, equal to Mudrick II’s expenses. While most SPACs have cited unfavorable market conditions as their reason for termination, Blue Nile has decided to part ways in order to enter into a different transaction agreement where it will be acquired by Sterling Jewelers Inc. (“Signet”)(NYSE:SIG).
Signet announced this morning that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Blue Nile for $360 million in an all cash transaction, just over half of what Blue Nile’s enterprise value, or $683 million, would have been in the SPAC deal. The cash to Blue Nile’s balance sheet in the SPAC transaction was expected to be $372 million, but that was assuming no redemptions, and had a minimum cash closing condition of $195.5M. The acquisition of the online jewelry retailer is expected to accelerate Signet’s efforts to expand its bridal offerings and grow its luxury portfolio while extending its digital leadership for jewelry.
The new transaction will be funded with cash on hand from Signet and is currently expected to close in the third quarter of 2023, but will likely not be accretive until Q4 of 2024. Upon closing, Blue Nile will be strategically positioned at the top tier of Signet’s Accessible Luxury banners along with Jared, James Allen and Diamonds Direct.
As for Mudrick II, this marks the SPAC’s second termination and has a deadline of September 10 on the horizon. The SPAC terminated its first combination with collectible card-maker Topps in August 2021 after the company announced it would not see a renewal of its foundational contract with Major League Baseball (MLB) for producing its signature cards. But, MUDS has a preliminary proxy on file to extend its transaction timeline to December 10, 2022, hoping the third deal announcement is the charm.
Bellevue, Washington-based Blue Nile is a digitally native jewelry store operating both via an online marketplace and through brick-and-mortar showrooms in the United States. Blue Nile delivered revenue of more than $500 million in calendar year 2021.
Terms Tracker for the Week Ending November 22, 2024 Welcome to our weekly column where we discuss the findings from our IPO terms tracker based on the previous week’s pricings. SPACs finally broke the DeSPAC announcement drought exactly 30 days from the last DeSPAC announcement with Hudson Acquisition I Corp.’s news they had reached the...
Hudson I (NASDAQ:HUDA) has signed a definitive agreement to combine with EV maker Aiways Europe at an equity value of $410 million. Munich, Germany-headquartered Aiways Europe is developing a line of EV SUVs for the European market with support from an affiliate manufacturer in China. The combined company is expected to trade on the Nasdaq...
The clearest theme for the changes to come under the incoming Trump administration is lower taxes domestically and trade barriers abroad. And, the election’s impacts on the investment climate have been broadly favorable to SPACs, but this policy-making direction could have detrimental impacts on SPAC deals themselves. That’s because international targets have made up an...
At the SPAC of Dawn Activity has been picking up in SPACland after a sleepy start to the month, but the biggest news for the this corner of the market is not SPAC-specific. SEC Chair Gary Gensler announced his intention to resign on January 20. His resignation press release touted the $21 billion in penalties...
Deals and Amendments Arogo Capital (OTC:AOGO) has received notice that its merger target Ayurcann Holdings (CSE:AYUR) has terminated their business combination citing a breach on behalf of the SPAC. Ayurcann expects to be paid a $250,000 breakup free from Arogo. News and Rumors PR: Smart TV firm Innovid (NYSE:CTV), which combined with ION 2 in...