The Daily Dish (09/09/21)
Packable Planning $1.55 Billion SPAC Deal
US E-commerce firm Packable has agreed to merge with Highland Transcend Partners I Corp, in a deal that values the combined entity at $1.55 billion. Packable will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange after the deal closes under the ticker ‘PKBL’.
The merger includes a PIPE investment of $180 million from Fidelity Management, Lugard Road, Luxor Capital and Morningside. The proceeds of the deal are expected to help the company expand further internationally and add new product categories.
Packable, which is backed by Carlyle, operates third-party retailer Pharmapacks and was last valued at $1.1 billion in November 2020.
The terms of the merger include a 71% stake for existing shareholders, 18% for Highland SPAC investors and 11% for PIPE investors. Executives of Highland Transcend Ian Friedman and Dan Nova are expected to join the company’s board of directors after the deal closes.
Gravity-Based Energy Storage Firm Announces $1.1 Billion SPAC Deal
Energy Vault is a renewable energy storage provider that has just announced a merger with Novus Capital Corporation II. The deal values the combined entity at $1.1 billion and will help the company raise $388 million in cash.
Around $100 million of the cash proceeds is expected to come from notable PIPE investors including SoftBank Investment, Cemex Ventures and Palantir Technologies.
The company’s solution uses gravity and potential energy to store and release energy on demand. Energy Vault uses its proprietary AI to orchestrate the charging and discharging of electricity through composite bricks and mechanical crane systems.
The materials that form the composite component is made from locally sourced soil or waste such as coal combustion residuals and glass fibres from decommissioned wind turbine blades.
India’s Largest Unicorn Planning to Accelerate IPO Plans
Online education provider Byju’s, is planning to raise between $400 and $600 million and then accelerate plans for an IPO next year. With a valuation that’s many times higher than the other Indian startups, Byju’s is the country’s most valuable startup.
The Bangalore based company could close the pre-IPO round at a valuation of $21 billion and will be split roughly between equity and debt. The online education provider is planning to file for an IPO as early as the second quarter of next year with a planned valuation of $40 and $50 billion.
Byju’s now has the potential to be the global leader in ed-tech, especially after China’s recent reforms put several restrictions on similar start-ups in China. Byju’s has prominent investors including Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Naspers Ltd, Tiger Global Management and Silver Lake Management.
The company is targeting revenues of $1.4 billion in revenues for this year with a 20% operating margin.
Reddit Reads
VIH is a Heavily Shorted sub-NAV, pre-redemption SPAC
VIH is trading below $10 and is one of the most heavily shorted stocks, with a float of 20.5 million shares and 7 million short shares. Furthermore, PIPE activity is locked up and banned from shorting, so it’s not hedging activity.
LCID Announces Cashless Redemption of Warrants
Lucid Group will redeem all outstanding public warrants to purchase shares of the common stock that were issued under the warrant agreement dated July 29, 2020, as part of the units sold in the company’s IPO for a price of $0.01 per Public Warrant.
DMYI Triples Expectation for 2021 Contract Bookings
IonQ, a quantum computing startup that is planning to merge with SPAC dMY Technology Group, Inc. III later this year, just announced that it was tripling its expectations for 2021 contract bookings from $5 million to $15 million
