Mudrick Capital II (MUDS) Terminates Blue Nile Deal
by Marlena Haddad on 2022-08-09 at 9:30am

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.

 

 

Recent Posts
by Nicholas Alan Clayton on 2024-03-28 at 7:47am

At the SPAC of Dawn Fed Chair Jerome Powell has given new hints that the administration would be showing greater levels of comfort with inflation if a cut could help improve unemployment numbers. Those numbers could get an update today at 8:30 am ET to bring new jobless claims as well as final prices for...

by Nicholas Alan Clayton on 2024-03-27 at 1:31pm

News and Rumors CNBC: Former WeWork (OTC Pink:WEWKQ) founder Adam Neumann has offered to buy back control of the company for $500 million but has yet to secure the necessary financing. WeWork went public with BowX in October 2021. PR: Satellite telecom firm Spire Global (NYSE:SPIR) has signed an agreement to build and launch two...

by Nicholas Alan Clayton on 2024-03-27 at 11:38am

Bannix (NASDAQ:BNIX) has entered into a definitive agreement to combine with VisionWave Technologies for $30 million. The combined company is expected to trade on the Nasdaq once the deal is completed with an initial outside date of September 14. Transaction Overview Bannix has about $17 million in its trust after seeing 77.4% of its shares...

by Nicholas Alan Clayton on 2024-03-27 at 7:33am

At the SPAC of Dawn Much of the attention yesterday was on tracking the swings of the newly-completed Trump Media (NASDAQ:DJT) deal with the FT going as far to suggest it may “make SPACs great again.” Not all of the day’s data points were on the positive side of the ledger, however. IB Acquisition Corp....

by Nicholas Alan Clayton on 2024-03-26 at 1:52pm

News and Rumors SpaceNews: Boeing (NYSE:BA) has sued Virgin Galactic (NASDAQ:SPCE) alleging the space tourism venture refused to pay $25 million it owed for design work and violated Boeing’s intellectual property rights. Virgin Galactic combined with Social Capital Hedosophia in 2019. Bloomberg: The most popular options contract for Trump Media (NASDAQ:DJT) predicts it to plunge...

logo

Copyright © 2023 SPACInsider, Inc. All Rights Reserved