The Daily Dish (6/17/21)
Welcome to the Daily Dish. We are your morning briefing for the SPAC market. Every day we’ll provide you a digest of the top headlines of the previous day and an outline of the day ahead.
Family Feud at Velodyne Highlights SPAC Pitfalls
Brothers David Hall and Brad Culkin, who have been longtime colleagues at Velodyne Lidar, have been locked in a ‘Fight to the Death’.
Hall, the founder of the business, was ousted from his position as chairman of the board, but is still the largest shareholder. Hall remains determined to strike back against Culkin, who took over his position and anyone else on the board who helped remove him.
Recently, Hall installed Eric Singer, an activist investor onto the board to gain control and remove the other members.
The recent development highlights the pitfalls of SPACs, which have provided a quicker route to public markets compared to traditional IPOs, but have also been used by founder-controlled businesses.
The current feud between the brothers has resulted in shares of the company falling by over 50%.
Marc Menasé Plans to Set Up 150 Million Euro SPAC
French Businessman Marc Menasé, Michaël Benabou and Charles-Hubert de Chaudenay, along with investors MACSF Epargne Retraite and IDI plan to launch DEE Tech, which is a 150 million Euro SPAC in Paris.
The founders announced that the SPAC’s capital could be increased up to 195 million euros with the aim to invest in technological firms with high potential.
DEE Tech announced that it will be offering 15 million units at a price of 10 Euros with a minimum subscription of 1 million euros. The company is expected to debut in the market on June 25th.
Menasé previously invested in online advertising marketplace Teads, later bought by Franco-Israeli billionaire Patrick Drahi. Benabou co-founded French e-commerce firm Veepee, of which de Chaudenay is a former chief executive.
Indonesia’s OTT Firm Asia Vision Announces SPAC Merger
Asia Vision Network announced its plan for an SPAC merger with Malacca Straits Acquisition Company. Post the merger, AVN is expected to be listed on Nasdaq as a new Indonesian US listed holding company.
AVN is a holding company for Vision+ and MNC Play. Vision+ is Indonesia’s OTT media business and MNC Play is the country’s third largest fixed broadband company.
SPAC’s have emerged as an alternate route to IPO’s for companies in Asia as it provides less scrutiny and a quicker path to capital markets in the US.
Other Asian companies like ride-hailing service Grab and online real estate company PropertyGuru have also gone through the SPAC route to list in the US.
