The Nightcap: SPACs are Getting LIT for Summer & The eVTOL Saga Continues!
Nightly recap of the day's SPAC highlights (June 10th, 2021)
Good evening,
Thanks for reading “The Nightcap”, a nightly recap of the highlights of the SPAC world. You can always discover and track all of the SPACs at spactrack.net.
The Stats:
The Deals:
1) Spartacus Acquisition Corporation (TMTS: $10.08) & NextNav
Merger Partner Description:
NextNav provides next generation GPS. NextNav Pinnacle uses highly accurate vertical positioning to transform location services so they reflect the 3D world around us. Our revolutionary TerraPoiNT system keeps critical infrastructure resilient with reliable Position, Navigation and Timing services in the absence of GPS. With carrier-grade dependability and a rapidly expanding nationwide service footprint, NextNav is driving a whole new ecosystem for geolocation applications and services.
Valuation: $897M Pro-forma EV
PIPE: $205M from investors including Koch Strategic Platforms, a subsidiary of the Koch Investments Group, and funds managed by Fortress Investment Group
2) Venus Acquisition Corporation (VENA: $9.95) & VIYI Algorithm
Merger Partner Description:
“VIYI Algo is dedicated to the development and application of bespoke central processing algorithms. VIYI Algo provides comprehensive solutions to customers by integrating central processing algorithms with software or hardware, or both, thereby helping them to increase the number of customers, improve end-user satisfaction, achieve direct cost savings, reduce power consumption, and achieve technical goals.”
Valuation: $400M
PIPE: No PIPE
Other Deal Notes: $10M Backstop and subscription agreement with Ever Abundant Investments Limited for up to $10M of redemptions
VIYI Algorithm Investor Presentation has not been filed as of this writing
After-hours deal:
3) Broadstone Acquisition Corp. (BSN: $9.92) & Vertical Aerospace
Merger Partner Description:
Vertical Aerospace's mission is to make air travel personal, on demand and carbon free. The company has an unrivalled top-tier partner ecosystem and is backed by American Airlines, Avolon, Rolls-Royce and Honeywell among others. Vertical's partnerships de-risk execution and its pathway to certification, allow for a lean cost structure, and enable production at scale. With projected speeds over 200mph, near silent when in flight, zero emissions and low cost per passenger mile, the VA-X4 is expected to open up urban air mobility to a whole new range of passengers and transform how we travel.
Valuation: $1.8B Pro-forma EV
PIPE: $89M from investors including Microsoft's M12, American Airlines, Avolon, Honeywell, and Rolls-Royce.
Vertical Aerospace Investor Presentation has not been filed as of this writing
Deal News Reports:
1) Zanite Acquisition Corp. (ZNTE: $10.10) is in talks to merge with Eve Urban Air Mobility, the electric vehicle takeoff and landing (eVTOL) unit of Embraer.
Embraer’s Eve in $2 Billion Merger Talks With Zanite SPAC (Bloomberg— behind paywall)
Brazil’s Embraer SA surged as much as 15% Thursday after confirming that it’s in talks to merge Eve Urban Air Mobility, its electric vehicle takeoff and landing unit, with Zanite Acquisition Corp.
The talks with the special purpose acquisition company are ongoing and could end without an agreement, Embraer said Thursday in an emailed statement, confirming an earlier Bloomberg report. The deal is slated to value the combined entity at about $2 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter, although terms could change.
Shares of Embraer surged 12% to 19.38 reais at 11:25 a.m. in Sao Paulo, and earlier climbed as high as 19.94 reais.
Zanite is led by co-Chief Executive Officers Kenn Ricci, co-owner of Directional Aviation Capital, which controls private-jet flight provider Flexjet, and Steve Rosen, co-founder of private equity firm Resilience Capital Partners. The Cleveland-based SPAC raised $230 million in a November initial public offering.
Ricci, the founder of several private-jet companies, bought Flexjet from transportation firm Bombardier Inc. in 2013. The company sells partial ownerships in its fleet of business aircraft, enabling members to fly privately without having to buy planes outright, and competes against NetJets, owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Eve Urban Air Mobility makes eVTOLs, which have been dubbed flying taxis. Led by CEO Andre Stein, the company this week struck a partnership with Helisul Aviation, a Brazilian helicopter operator, that involves an order of as many as 50 eVTOLs, with deliveries slated to begin in 2026.
….
Last week, Eve said it struck a partnership with Halo Aviation Ltd., a helicopter travel provider in the U.S. and U.K., which features an order for 200 of Eve’s eVTOL aircraft with delivery commencing in 2026. Halo is part of Ricci’s Directional Aviation.
2) 890 Fifth Avenue Partners (ENFA: $9.80) is close to a merger deal with BuzzFeed.
BuzzFeed To Raise $200 Million in Bonds As SPAC Deal Nears (The Information— behind paywall)
BuzzFeed is in discussions to raise about $200 million in convertible bonds to supplement cash it will raise by merging with a special purpose acquisition company, say people familiar with the situation. The financing will help BuzzFeed fund the acquisition of digital lifestyle publisher Complex Networks, which is being negotiated at an equity value of around $300 million.
BuzzFeed’s discussions with the SPAC known as 890 Fifth Avenue Partners are getting close to a resolution with an announcement possible in the next few weeks, the people said. The negotiations with Complex are still underway and a deal is far from certain, said one of the people.
IPOs to Begin Trading Tomorrow*:
1) Logistics Innovation Technologies Corp. (LITT.U)
$300M, 1/3 warrant
Focus: Logistics Tech
Logistics Innovation Technologies Corp. (LIT) intends to partner with a company focused on innovation in the logistics industry, which could be a logistics technology company or a traditional industry player that can leverage technology to improve the efficiency of customer supply chains and their markets.
LIT is led by an accomplished group of executives and investment professionals with extensive track records of successfully operating and investing in transportation, logistics and technology businesses. The Chief Executive Officer of LIT is Alan Gershenhorn who recently retired from his position as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of United Parcel Service, Inc. and is currently a senior advisor to EIGHT VC Partners, LLC (“8VC”). Chris Sultemeier, former President and Chief Executive Officer of Walmart Transportation, LLC, Andy Clarke, former Chief Financial Officer of C.H. Robinson, Inc., and Bruno Sidler, former Chief Executive Officer of Panalpina Welttransport Holding AG, anchor the Board of Directors with significant expertise in the supply chain technology sector. Senior advisors to LIT include Jake Medwell, Co-Founder and Partner at 8VC, who leads the logistics technology investing practice, and Michael McClary, CEO of Ascend Transportation, LLC and former President of Truckload Brokerage in the North American network of Amazon.com, Inc.
2) ) Lakeshore Acquisition I Corp. (LAAA.U)
$50M, 3/4 warrant
3) Jaws Hurricane Acquisition Corp (HCNE.U)
$275M, 1/4 warrant
Focus: Consumer Tech
Management: Barry Sternlicht (Chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital)
*Priced at the time of this writing
New S-1 Filings:
None today.
Quick Merger Partner News Corner:
Stable Road Acquisition Corp (SRAC: $13.15, +8%): Momentus reaches national security agreement with federal agencies which included the divestment of all the two Russian co-founders’ shares
Galileo Acquisition Corp (GLEO: $10.02, +0.1%): Shapeways announces Q1 revenue of $8.8M (+11% YoY)
Artius Acquisition (AACQ: $10.01, +0.1%): Origin Materials announces Ford partnership
Greenrose Acquisition Corp (GNRS: $10.01) To delist from Nasdaq to OTC effective 6/21 due to U.S. cannabis Company merger
dMY Technology Group, Inc. III’s (DMYI: $10.55, -0.5%): IonQ, adds integration with Google Cirq
New Beginnings Acquisition Corp. (NBA: $10.01, -0.5%): Airspan Networks Q1 revenue of $45.9M (+67% YoY)
NewHold Investment Corp (NHIC: $10.10, +0.5% ): Evolv announces Q1 revenue of $3.9M (total 2020 revenue was $4.8M)
SPACs Leaving the Nest:
1) VG Acquisition Corp (VGAC: $11.15) shareholders approve merger with 23andMe. Merger completion is expected on June 16th with VGAC starting to trade as ME on June 17th.
2) Churchill Capital Corp II (CCX: $11.61) shareholders approve merger with Skillsoft and Global Knowledge. The merger is expected to close on June 11th with the combined company named Skillsoft Corp. CCX is expected to start trading as SKIL on June 14th.
3) HighCape Capital Acquisition Corp. (CAPA: $10.68) completes merger with Quantum-Si. CAPA will trade as QSI starting tomorrow, June 11th
4) Thunder Bridge Acquisition II, Ltd. (THBR: $10.87) completes merger with indie Semiconductor. THBR will trade as INDI starting tomorrow, June 11th
Upcoming Dates:
This Week’s Shareholder Meetings and Unit Splits (common shares and warrants to commence trading separately from underlying units)
Friday, June 11th
ArcLight Clean Transition Corp (ACTC: $18.73) Shareholder Meeting to Approve Business Combination with Proterra
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