Below is a daily summary of links to the latest SPAC news and rumors gathered across the web.
Latest SPAC News: New 1% excise tax on stock buybacks may have consequences for SPACs, investors and sponsors find ways to improve deal integrity, and DWAC falls as shareholders weigh delaying merger
New 1% Excise Tax on Stock Buybacks May Have Far-Reaching Consequences for Capital Markets, SPAC and M&A Transactions
On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, H.R. 5376, a reconciliation bill that revives parts of the tax legislation from the ill-fated Build Back Better Act as part of a larger package also addressing climate change, energy and health care. In particular, the Act establishes a new one-percent excise tax on certain stock buybacks by domestic public companies. The Excise Tax has a broad reach that could unexpectedly affect a range of capital markets, SPAC and M&A transactions beyond plain vanilla stock buybacks.
READSPACs are overcoming expectations
After a series of rollercoaster years for the SPAC market, investors and sponsors are finding ways to improve deal integrity.
SPACs have never faced such a challenging environment, for a number of reasons. The overhang of the SEC’s proposed regulations regarding misleading financial projections have had a significant ripple effect.
However, the worst has possibly already passed for the SPAC market. Sponsors and banks have adopted a more cautious sentiment over the past three months since the SEC announced its proposal, but stakeholders are quickly adjusting.
READTrump-linked SPAC’s stock falls as shareholders weigh delaying merger with ex-president’s media firm
Digital World Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ:DWAC), the company that plans to take Trump Media and Technology Group public, saw its stock price slide Monday as shareholders consider delaying the merger and the former president contends with a host of legal problems.
A Monday filing from DWAC said that voting for a yearlong delay would open Tuesday. The current deadline to take Trump Media public is Sept. 8. DWAC has warned that it may be forced to liquidate if the deadline is not extended. A shareholder meeting is scheduled for Sept. 6.
Shares of DWAC were down more than 8% to about $25 on Monday, off 16% this month and significantly below their 2022 peak of about $97.
READ
Despite a week of general pull-backs in the market, fintech firm Ibotta (NYSE:IBTA) nonetheless took the dive and had a good week debuting via a traditional IPO in the choppy waters. The company, which provides app-based consumer cashback discounts on purchases, priced its IPO at $88, above its proposed range of $76 to $84, and...
At the SPAC of Dawn Happy Friday! SPACInsider has unveiled new presets on SPAC Performance accessible via the Data drop-down to easily sort for the highest and lowest performing active SPACs and de-SPACs. On the de-SPAC side, Vertiv (NYSE:VRT) continues to be well ahead of the pack, logging a 710% return by share price adjusted...
AGBA (NASDAQ:AGBA) stock is up over +90% this morning following a +211% premarket spike on news it has signed a definitive agreement to combine with social streaming video platform Triller. AGBA, the company itself, was formed by the $555 million combination between a SPAC of the same name and TAG Companies, a financial services firm...
At the SPAC of Dawn Since closing its combination with DHC last month, AI customer engagement firm BEN (NASDAQ:BNAI) has rolled out new partnerships with call center and healthcare clients. And, while it faces a fair bit of competition in the chatbot realm, several high-profile institutions have demonstrated that creating one that provides useful services...
Blue Ocean (NASDAQ:BOCN) provided significantly more texture today in the presentation for its $275 million combination with Asian digital media group TNL Mediagene, which it expects to hit profitability in the second half of the year despite a slight shakeup in financing for the transaction. The first big update in the first investor deck is...