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Skift Take
The companies didn’t say why the merger failed. But the popularity of going public via mergers with SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies, is waning. At least 22 deals have fallen apart since mid-2021, said SPAC Research.
Blank-check firm Astrea Acquisition Corp., travel tech company HotelPlanner and online hotel booking platform Reservations.com have mutually ended their $688 million merger deal, the parties said on Monday.
Shares of Astrea were up over 16% in early trading.
“All three companies believe that terminating the business combination is the best path forward for all parties,” the companies said in a statement, without citing a reason.
HotelPlanner, Reservations.com, and Astrea decided to merge in August last year, with the deal potentially resulting in cash proceeds of $120 million for the combined entity.
Astrea went public in a $150 million initial public offering in February last year. Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) typically have up to two years to hunt for a company to take public, failing which they must return their shareholders’ money.
Last week, 3D printing firm Essentium Inc and telecom services firm Syniverse Technologies also ended their blank-check mergers, as inflation concerns and geopolitical tensions add to worries for companies seeking to go public through the SPAC route.
A SPAC is a shell company that raises money in an IPO and puts it in a trust to merge with a private company and take it public. (Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)
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