The Daily Dish (6/30/21)
Momentus Valuation Plummets in Amended SPAC Deal
Momentus has just seen its value slashed in half, after an amended SPAC deal with Stable Road Acquisition Corporation. The revised deal values the company at $566.6 million from its original valuation of $1.1 billion.
The merger, which was expected to close in the first quarter this year, has been delayed by several issues, including concerns about the company’s foreign ownership.
The company’s Russian co-founders Mikhail Kokorich and Lev Khasis sold their stakes in June for $50 million, months after Kokorich stepped down as chief executive.
Momentus reached an agreement with the Defence and Treasury departments on June 9th, outlining the steps it would take to address the concerns surrounding national security.
Melco CEO to List $150 Million SPAC
The chairman and CEO of Macau casino operator Melco Resorts & Entertainment, Lawrence Ho, is planning an SPAC IPO in New York. The SPAC, Black Spade Acquisition is expected to raise $150 million and the amount could rise to $172.5 million based on the transaction.
The SPAC will target business opportunities in Asia, with a focus on consumer trends including lifestyle brands, products and services and entertainment media.
Ho, the son of casino tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun, has a net worth of over $2 billion and plants to transform the traditional casino business into a hospitality and entertainment business, while also planning to expand the business outside Macau into other regions such as Philippines and Russia.
Tabola Starts Trading Following SPAC Merger
Tabola, a digital advertisement company, started trading today, following an SPAC merger with Ion Acquisition Corp. Shareholders approved the merger on Monday, with the company’s shares being traded on Nasdaq, under the ticker ‘TBLA’. The transaction is expected to infuse $526 million of cash for the company and existing shareholders.
Taboola specialises in content recommendation boxes on websites of publishers. The company makes money when it is paid by advertisers and shares the revenue with the publisher. The company reported revenues of $303 million and profits of $18.6 million in the first quarter of 2021.
Tabola has over 13,000 advertisers in its network with 500 million daily active users on the sites of over 9,000 publishers. The company sees lots of opportunities in alternate advertising, which is out of the reach of traditional advertising platforms such as Google and Facebook.
