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SPAC Talk

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a SPAC IPO! Last week saw the month of May's third SPAC IPO pricing. Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. II raised proceeds of $250 million (upsized from $200 million). But while SPAC IPOs have been few and far between over the past 12 months, the exit doors continue to be a lot busier, with 19 liquidations completed in May and seven scheduled for June thus far. As we highlighted in last week's SPAC Talk, there are 40 merger deadlines coming up this month, so we would not bet against another double-digit month of SPAC liquidations, extending the run to nine consecutive months. All of this leaves the number of SPACs looking for merger partners at 237, a figure not seen since 2020. SPACs are finding dancing partners, but will they all end in marriage? We continue to see a steady flow of merger announcements, although as the liquidation figures indicate, many more are giving up the hunt. May saw 16 proposed IBCs come to light, bringing the total number of deal announcements to 77 YTD. However, this compares with 106 completed trust fund liquidations. There are currently 171 pending IBCs awaiting consummation, but as we highlighted last week, there is a statistical risk that one in five will be terminated. Twenty-four terminations have been declared so far this year, and there is good bet that Wejo's prospective second proposed de-SPACing will be added to that list after the UK-based vehicle data provider filed for insolvency on May 30. The minority report-De-SPAC winners. Through the gloom that has been associated with post-merger SPACs, there are a few (just a few) beacons of light. Our SPAC Talk Focus this week spotlights the top performers, Symbotic (SYM) and MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (MLTX), to illustrate what it takes for a de-SPAC to be a winner.