SPACs - the next big fraud

[tanwahtiu]

Stay away from lawyers infested WH and CH... they are only good at creating Bills to blocked progress and create poor people, to enrich themselves....

Brace yourself for plenty of dirty money from China to flow in soon.

 

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Yahoo Finance

Carson Block: Most firms that went public via SPAC 'should be deemed uninvestable'​

Akiko Fujita
·Anchor/Reporter
Thu, 3 February 2022

Famed short-seller Carson Block raised the alarm on special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC) at the height of their activity, building his bets while warning retail investors about “a scam” in the market.
Now, the CEO of investment research firm Muddy Waters Capital is starting to see the reckoning.
Since raising a record $144 billion through 613 blank check IPOs last year, investors have begun to turn on these companies, in the face of poor returns and choppy market conditions. From sports betting company DraftKings (DKNG) to battery technology startup QuantumScape (QS) and electric vehicle maker Lordstown Motors (RIDE), former Wall Street darlings have seen their valuations slashed by more than half from their highs.
“You can't look at it and say every company that's gone public via SPAC is uninvestable,” said Block on Yahoo Finance Live. “But if you're going to look at probabilities, the probabilities are much higher that something that went public via SPAC versus IPO should be deemed uninvestable.”
The structure of SPACs have allowed younger startups to come to market, without the scrutiny reserved for traditional IPOs. SPACs are shell companies set up by investors or sponsors to strictly raise capital through an IPO, to eventually acquire another company. They are sometimes referred to as blank-check firms because IPO investors often have no idea about the firm the funds raised will be used to invest in.
While SPACs have been around for decades, companies have increasingly turned to them during the pandemic, in part because of the speed with which the structure allows companies to come to market.
Block said that very structure has created inherent risks in financial markets.
“You're generally giving 20% of the company away to the SPAC promoter, so these are not designed really to create wealth structurally. They're designed more to transfer wealth,” he said. “The incentives to put a SPAC together are very strong to just do something, just close some transaction. And then you as the SPAC promoter get hundreds of millions of dollars in your pocket, and you can sell out of that.”

CEO and founder of U.S. Nikola Trevor Milton speaks during presentation of its new full-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell battery trucks in partnership with CNH Industrial, at an event in Turin, Italy, December 2, 2019. REUTERS/Massimo Pinca

‘$700 million is the new zero’​

Block has especially been critical of reverse mergers in the electric vehicle space. From truck maker Proterra (PTRA) to air taxi startup Joby Aviation (JOBY), roughly 20 companies have come to market through SPACs since 2020. All but a handful have seen their share price decline, by more than 40%.
Nikola (NKLA), which went public in 2020 through a reverse merger valued at $3.3 billion, has seen its stock plummet more than 80% since activist short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the carmaker of misleading investors and exaggerating their technology. Lordstown Motors, once valued at $1.6 billion, has followed closely behind on a similar report. Those firms, along with Canoo (GOEV) and Lucid Group (LCID) are now under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“I think there's a good chance that these businesses are essentially close to valueless when all is said and done. Yet, there's still, real market cap there,” he said. “So, I've taken to joking for a little while that $700 million is the new zero. But, you know, when you look at those companies, the new zero is actually multiple billions."

A Lordstown Motors sign is seen outside the Lordstown Assembly Plant in Lordstown, Ohio, U.S., June 21, 2021. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

'Our belief is in the long run'​

QuantumScape CEO Jagdeep Singh says the criticism against SPACs is misplaced. Shares of his company declined more than 30% in January alone. His company now faces several class action lawsuits from shareholders who allege Quantumscape exaggerated the viability of its solid state battery technology.
“We vehemently disagree with any assertion that we haven't been transparent or truthful. We've been more transparent than any other emerging battery company in terms of showing the data. The data is the data. It's, it is what it is,” said Singh in an interview on Yahoo Finance Live, pointing to a recent study that showed its batteries successfully completed 15-minute fast charging cycles. “Our belief is in the long run. Even though in the short run stock market prices can be almost random, in the long run, prices do correlate with fundamental company performance.”
Sponsors are starting to cool on the idea. Fourteen SPACs withdrew their IPO paperwork last month, after filing at the height of the SPAC boom one year ago. That number is more than all of 2021, according to Renaissance Capital.
With SEC Chairman Gary Gensler now calling for tougher disclosures, Block expects the air to come out, even further.
“As SPAC promoters, you previously assumed that you could make whatever public projections you wanted that could have really little connection to reality. The SEC said in actuality, you might be liable for that,” said Block. “Now, that's a legal gray area, but that has also dialed back the willingness of company managements and SPAC promoters to get out there and tell these fairy tales about, you know, like, sales growing 700 times in five years.”

Akiko Fujita is an anchor and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @AkikoFujita

 

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Singapore could list up to a dozen Spacs in next 12-18 months, say industry players​

The Singapore Exchange is looking to establish itself as the hub for such firms. PHOTO: REUTERS

Feb 7, 2022

SINGAPORE (REUTERS) - After years of struggling to emerge from the shadows of regional rivals, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) is looking to establish itself as the hub for blank-cheque firms, riding on regulatory overhaul, support by state firms, and a tech boom in its back yard.
Encouraged by the flurry of South-east Asian tech start-ups seeking funding and the bourse's revised rules, the Republic could list up to a dozen special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs) within the next 12 to18 months, bankers, venture capitalists and analysts say.
A key test for SGX will come when such companies, also known as blank-cheque or shell firms, have to seal merger targets within two years, a "de-Spacing" process already weighing on United States deals as hundreds of Spacs chase targets.
Analysts say Singapore faces a challenge to get its traditionally risk-averse investors interested in a new asset class, especially after SGX has met with limited success in its previous attempts to shore up its equity market.
In contrast, large international institutions have turned to Hong Kong for blockbuster equity listings over the past decade.
While a craze in Spacs has fizzled out in the US since early last year amid regulatory scrutiny and poor returns, SGX hosted three Spacs last month in their first major debut in Asia. The attraction is that they are simpler and typically more rewarding for start-ups than an initial public offering (IPO).
"Looking at the response for the first Spacs, the pipeline is very strong," said Ms Eng-Kwok Seat Moey, capital markets head at DBS, joint issue manager on two Spac IPOs with Credit Suisse.

Singapore Spacs are likely to chase targets in fintech, tech and consumer sectors, bankers say. Valuations of targets could range between $800 million to up to $2 billion, with deal-making likely as early as this year.
"The size of the opportunity, of younger companies scaling up and going for listings, is several times what it was many years ago and over the next decade it'll be multiples of those," said Mr Ashish Wadhwani, a Singapore-based managing partner at IvyCap Ventures, an Indian firm managing about US$400 million (S$538 million) of assets.
Last year, fund-raising on SGX halved to US$565 million, a six-year low, with just eight listings, Refinitiv data show.


Underlying Singapore's cautious approach, state investor Temasek-linked entities featured among cornerstone investors in two of the three Spacs, all of which were oversubscribed.
Vertex Venture Holdings, a Temasek subsidiary, and one of South-east Asia's largest funds, was the first to launch a $200 million tech Spac in January.

Cautious start​

"I expect the exchange and regulators to be quite careful in all these processes. I don't think they will suddenly just open up the floodgates and everybody can come," said Mr Chua Kee Lock, chief executive of Vertex, which manages US$5.1 billion of assets.
Backers of regional tech and industrial buyout fund Novo Tellus' $150 million Spac included a Temasek unit.
European asset manager Tikehau Capital, which has two Europe-listed Spacs, also chose Singapore for a $170 million Spac listing, with co-sponsors including LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault.
The latest moves could lead to more global funds playing an active role in public equity markets in Singapore, which is already a leading Asian finance and wealth hub.
"It's a chicken-and-egg situation. Maybe if you create this Spac market, then more investors will come," Mr Wadhwani said.
Spacs typically offer stock with warrants, which are viewed as a key way to attract early investors.
Still, for wealthy investors such as Mr Prantik Mazumdar, the listing of big regional names in Singapore and successful business mergers of Spacs are crucial before he chooses them over directly investing in pre-IPO US tech companies.
"Unless there are exclusive opportunities in specific sectors and differentiated structures that Spacs offer, I'm probably on the fence," Mr Mazumdar said.
Last year, Singapore also announced two funds with $2 billion in capital for late-stage funding and IPOs as deal-making surges.
Twenty private companies in South-east Asia joined the ranks of those valued at US$1 billion or more last year, while 53 firms joined the list of those with near-term potential of being valued at US$1 billion, data from research firm Tracxn show.
"A Spac listing can definitely help a start-up exit and raise funds faster with less hassle," said Mr Chandra Tjan, co-founder of Indonesia-focused Alpha JWC Ventures.
Singapore's success as a global hub for real estate investment trusts (Reits) could be a template to build a Spac market.
SGX's head of equity capital markets Mohamed Nasser Ismail said: "Singapore has the necessary ingredients to build a healthy Spacs market, and it can develop in the same way as the Reit market if we keep a close watch over the quality of sponsors and maintain overall listing standards."

 

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Grab's loss swells to $1.5 billion in Q4; shares lose nearly $30 billion since listing​

Grab has racked up losses since its founding and has yet to prove it can reach profitability. PHOTO: ST FILE

Mar 4, 2022

SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG, REUTERS) - Grab Holdings, South-east Asia's No. 1 ride-hailing and delivery company, reported a loss that almost doubled from a year ago after it spent more on incentives to lure drivers and customers as the pandemic eased.
The Singapore-based firm's fourth-quarter net loss swelled to US$1.1 billion (S$1.5 billion) from US$635 million, also hurt by non-cash interest costs and expenses related to its public listing, it said on Thursday (March 3). Analysts estimated a loss of US$645 million on average.
Revenue for the quarter ended Dec 31 fell 44 per cent to US$122 million, affected by the incentives offered to users and drivers.
Grab - which counts SoftBank Group and Uber Technologies as its two biggest shareholders - has struggled to gain a steady footing since it became a publicly listed company in the United States through a US$40 billion merger with a blank-cheque company in December.
Grab shares plunged 37 per cent on Thursday after posting its results, its biggest sell-off ever, as roughly 115 million shares changed hands, more than four times the average over the past month.
Since its debut, the stock has sunk 63 per cent, placing it among the Nasdaq Composite Index’s worst performers over that stretch. The tailspin has wiped out US$22 billion (S$29.85 billion) from Grab's market capitalisation.
It was also the worst performer in the De-Spac Index on Thursday as the basket of former special-purpose acquisition companies dropped 5.4 per cent to a record low.

Grab has racked up losses since its founding and has yet to prove it can reach profitability. Its fortunes have ebbed and flowed along with Covid-19 infection rates and restrictions, which affect demand for rides and meal deliveries.
In all of 2021, its loss widened to US$3.4 billion from US$2.6 billion the previous year. Gross merchandise value (GMV), the sum of transactions across its platforms, totalled US$16.1 billion compared with its projection of US$15 billion to US$15.5 billion.
As the pandemic has weighed on ride-hailing demand, Grab has expanded its food delivery business to drive user growth. The online grocery market in South-east Asia is expected to almost triple to US$11.9 billion in 2025 from US$4.1 billion in 2020, according to Euromonitor International.

But while spending by customers on Grab's platform is increasing, the growth is not yet translating to earnings.
Average spend per user - GMV per monthly transaction user - on Grab's platform grew 23 per cent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier. But revenue booked from delivery last quarter was just US$1 million.
Grab deducts incentives that it offers to drivers and consumers from sales, and its quarterly revenue number fluctuates wildly depending on how much it spends on such efforts.
Grab spent US$443.3 million on delivery incentives in the quarter, almost double from a year earlier.
Its total spending on incentives more than doubled to US$583.5 million in the fourth quarter. For 2021 as a whole, incentive spending soared to US$1.78 billion from US$1.24 billion the previous year.
"We did not expect Grab to spend on such huge incentives," LightStream Research analyst Shifara Samsudeen said in a report published on Smartkarma. This implies that the company is "struggling to grow its business and profitability seems like a tall order from Grab".
Grab chief financial officer Peter Oey said in a statement on Thursday: "We plan to be judicious and disciplined in allocating capital, as we double down on the long-term growth opportunities of our on-demand, advertising and financial services businesses."
Grab, founded by Mr Anthony Tan and Ms Tan Hooi Ling, has long been viewed as one of the most promising growth companies in South-east Asia.
But among Grab's challenges is intensifying competition, including from Sea, the region's biggest Internet company. More directly, its Indonesian ride-hailing rival, Gojek, has merged with e-commerce provider PT Tokopedia to become GoTo. The combined entity is preparing for an initial public offering at home and in the US this year.

 

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SPACs blew up in the past. In Singapore.
Amaranth was a hedge fund based in Singapore.
A lesson from the past that that government, MAS and SGX swept under the carpet.

Amaranth, a Slave to Fashion, Loaded Up on SPACs: Susan Antilla

Commentary by Susan Antilla

22 Sep 2006 (Bloomberg) -- Let's just get over it and say something nice about Amaranth Advisors LLC, the latest hedge fund to forget to look up the definition of ``hedge'' before it burned up billions of its clients' money.

It may be liquidating. It may be the joke of headline writers at city tabloids. But you can't say those guys didn't have a knack for fashion.

Consider the ill-fated hedge fund's love affair with one of Wall Street's latest dumb fads: SPACs.

SPACs are one of those wonderful financial contraptions that only a serious Wall Street mind could devise: A bunch of hedge fund and private-equity types get together with some executives and dream up a name of a new company that might own a business one day. What makes it great fun is that nobody has to work at the SPAC full-time.

With the company duly named, and nobody putting in a 40-hour week, papers are filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Then they invite public investors to fund their venture, which has no revenue, no earnings and, to keep it simple, no operations at all. If they don't find something to do with the initial public offering proceeds within 18 months, investors get most of their money back -- that is, if nothing goes wrong, such as a lawsuit that drains the coffers.

SPAC, which stands for Special Purpose Acquisition Company, has a close cousin known as a START (Specified Term Acquisition Reserve Trust Security). The main difference between the two is the number of different kinds of securities the two hawk to the public.

Passion for Fashion


Amaranth, like any slave to fashion, liked STARTs, too.

The Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund filed documents with the SEC showing ownership in 25 SPACs and STARTs in 2006. Among its holdings were 1.3 million shares of Acquicor Technology Inc. as of June 30, when Amaranth last disclosed its public holdings to the SEC.

What's Acquicor? Nothing much yet, but it does boast that its chief technology officer is Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer Inc. Acquicor is looking to buy a company in the ``technology, multimedia and networking businesses,'' according to its regulatory filings.

Amaranth also had a sizeable stake in Cold Spring Capital Inc., a SPAC on the hunt for a financial or real-estate business. The hedge fund's 2.2 million shares represented almost 8 percent of Cold Spring's shares outstanding.

And, at the end of March 2006, the hedge fund was the largest holder of a START called Good Harbor Partners Acquisition Corp. with 7.8 percent of Good Harbor's Class B securities. Good Harbor, whose chairman is Richard A. Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism chief, wants to buy a company in the security business.

Trading Surge

Word on Sept. 18 that Amaranth's funds had suffered a year- to-date loss of more than 35 percent by betting the wrong way on natural-gas prices sent trading volume soaring in the SPACs that Amaranth last listed as holdings.

Trading in shares of JK Acquisition Corp., which earlier this month agreed to buy an oil driller, soared to 1.64 million compared with a daily average of 66,100 in the prior three months. Star Maritime Acquisition Corp., one of Amaranth's top 10 holdings on June 30, traded 2.5 million shares on Sept. 18 compared with 71,400 on an average day in the previous three months. Star Maritime aims to buy a company in the shipping industry.

`Stupid Bet'

Trading soared in other Amaranth holdings, too. Steve Bruce, a spokesman for Amaranth, declined to comment on any aspect of the hedge fund's involvement in SPACs.

Because SPACs typically have several classes of stock, hedge funds often trade them to exploit the arbitrage opportunities that present themselves when one security class becomes cheap or expensive relative to another. SPACs are also viewed as a way for hedge funds to take part in private-equity investing with the benefit of a public market.



Mitchell Littman, a lawyer at Littman Krooks LLP in New York who gives advice on SPAC deals, says Amaranth's mistakes won't shake up the SPAC market.

``This is one guy making a stupid bet'' on gas prices, he says.

SPACs, though, have looked riskier to investors in recent months. Littman says that a year ago, investors were willing to buy SPACs that put only 88 percent to 90 percent of the offering proceeds into escrow while awaiting a target company to come along. Today, many SPACs are coming close to putting 100 percent in escrow, Littman says, as investors demand that management devote several million of their own dollars to make up the difference for what gets set aside for fees and other expenses.

``Investors are saying `If we're writing a check, you should be writing a check with us,''' he says.

Say Goodbye

The damage to a big SPAC fan like Amaranth may make it tougher to do new SPAC deals, says Brett Goetschius, editor-in- chief of the Reverse Merger Report, a newsletter. So far, the market has been liquid enough to absorb selling of existing inventory by Amaranth, he said.

Almost a year ago, I quoted Goetschius in a column on the subject of SPACs. ``There is a lot of private equity and hedge fund capital out there having a tough time finding a home,'' he said at the time. ``Too much money chasing too few deals.''

Markets do have a way of taking care of problems like that. Say goodbye to one big SPAC purchaser who won't be scrounging for places to put its money anymore.

(Susan Antilla, author of ``Tales From the Boom-Boom Room: The Landmark Legal Battles That Exposed Wall Street's Shocking Culture of Sexual Harassment,'' is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

 

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Grab could face class action suits in US following recent share price dive​

Grab's CEO Anthony Tan (left) and co-founder Tan Hooi Ling (right) with Nasdaq APAC chairman Robert McCooey at the Nasdaq bell-ringing ceremony on Dec 2, 2021. PHOTO: REUTERS

Choo Yun Ting
Business Correspondent

Mar 8, 2022

SINGAPORE - Nasdaq-listed super-app Grab could face class action lawsuits, with several United States law firms calling for shareholders to contact them to investigate claims on their behalf.
The mounting of such investigations, which is fairly commonplace for listed firms in the US, comes after Grab's shares crashed last week, falling about 37 per cent on March 3 after it announced a fourth-quarter net loss of US$1.1 billion (S$1.5 billion).
Its results came amid a worse-than-expected drop in revenue, due to higher incentives being paid out to attract drivers and consumers.
Singapore-headquartered Grab's shares last closed at US$3.36 on Monday (March 7), a far cry from the US$13.06 it reached on the day of its listing last December.
At least eight law firms have announced their intention to investigate Grab for matters such as false and misleading statements, possible fraud and other violations of US federal securities laws.
Grab declined to comment when contacted by The Straits Times.
Professor Lawrence Loh, director of the Centre for Governance and Sustainability at the National University of Singapore Business School, noted that listed firms in the US regularly face class action suits in a variety of matters, including possible violations of securities laws.

"In recent years, there are, in particular, class action suits against non-US issuers, especially those from China. The trend for class action suits is primarily driven by the permissibility of contingency fee arrangements, where the lawyer receives a pre-agreed percentage of the awarded damages," he said.
In addition, there are many law firms that specialise in class action suits for securities laws, and actively monitor unusual stock losses and seek shareholders who incurred significant damages to lead the suits, Prof Loh added.
In stock drop lawsuits, lawyers seize on a plunge in stock price as evidence that a company failed to be forthcoming about looming bad news.


Calls for investors to mount securities class action lawsuits are fairly common in the US, even if most cases do not make it to court.
Shareholder rights litigation company Schall Law Firm is also similarly focusing on whether Grab issued false and/or misleading statements or failed to disclose information pertinent to investors.
Securities litigation practice Pomerantz Law Firm, meanwhile, is investigating whether Grab and its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or unlawful business practices, it said in a release dated March 6.
Pomerantz had also last month called for shareholders of Sea to contact the firm, announcing its intent to investigate the Singapore-based tech giant for similar reasons. It is among a number of US law firms that regularly puts out calls for investors to contact them for investigation into listed firms.
According to statistics from Stanford Law School's Securities Class Action Clearinghouse database, 211 securities class action cases were filed in federal and state courts last year, lower than the 319 cases filed in 2020.

So far, this year, 35 cases have been filed.
The number of filings involving special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs) also rose significantly, in line with the rise of Spac-related mergers last year.
In class action suits, there are generally one or more lead plaintiffs, who represent the group of plaintiffs, or in the case of Grab, the group of investors. The lead plaintiffs are typically those with the largest losses and with the most incentive to get a higher settlement.
If a settlement is reached, the lawyers usually take a percentage of the settlement amount, with the lead plaintiffs next, and normally getting paid a higher share than other members, followed by the rest of the members of the class.
Prof Loh highlighted that Grab should always be ready to defend its actions and disclosure of information rigorously in the course of its business, and not just because of potential class action suits.
"The (firm's next) steps will have to depend on the specific contentions in each of the class action suits that may arise, but one thing is clear: there is certainly much gripe about the heavy share price drops after the Spac listing."

 

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PropertyGuru to begin trading on Nasdaq on Mar 18 after Spac merger​

Singapore-based property-listings platform PropertyGuru is set to list on Nasdaq in the middle of this month after a business combination with Bridgetown 2 Holdings. PHOTO: REUTERS

Mar 11, 2022

SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Singapore-based property-listings platform PropertyGuru is set to list on Nasdaq in the middle of this month after a business combination with Bridgetown 2 Holdings, a special-purpose acquisition company (Spac).
This would happen after - it is assumed - shareholders vote in favour of the business combination in an extraordinary general meeting on Mar 15. Bridgetown 2 is a SPAC backed by billionaires Peter Thiel and Li Ka Shing.
The Spac merger values PropertyGuru at about US$1.78 billion.
Spacs are shell firms that raise money from institutional and retail investors via market listings, and put it in a trust for the purpose of merging with a private company and taking it public.
While the US has been a go-to market for Spacs, bourses in Asia such as Singapore and Hong Kong have recently also introduced frameworks for such listings. Since SGX introduced its Spac framework last September, three Spacs have gone public.
Spacs are increasingly falling out of favour with investors after an initial boom, following regulatory clampdowns, an oversupply of Spacs and concerns over rising interest rates.
Shares of Bridgetown 2 Holdings, for instance, are down more than 20 per cent since its market debut in January 2021.

PropertyGuru, which provides real estate services to countries in South-east Asia, saw growth in Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia over FY2021 .
PropertyGuru posted a revenue of $100.7 million, an increase of 22.7 per cent from $82.1 million a year prior. This was also above the projected FY2021 revenue of S$97.5 million.
In Singapore, PropertyGuru increased agent subscription prices on average by 15 per cent in November 2021, which its chief executive officer Hari Krishnan last month attributed to "by rising property prices, solid agent and consumer confidence and PropertyGuru's strong market position".
The company is forecasting FY2022 revenue to grow 44 per cent year on year to $145.1 million, and is expected to be adjusted Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) positive.
Meanwhile, local online classifieds platforms Carousell is also seeking s Spac deal in the US via a merger with blank-cheque company L Catterton Asia Acquisition.

 

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PropertyGuru to debut on NYSE as investors approve Spac deal​

The combined entity will start trading March 18 on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker PGRU. PHOTO: REUTERS

MAR 15, 2022

SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) - Shareholders approved the merger of PropertyGuru and blank-cheque company Bridgetown 2 Holdings, paving the way for the online real estate marketplace to start trading in New York even as investor interest towards such deals wanes.
The proposal passed Tuesday (March 15) at a special shareholder meeting of Bridgetown 2, the special purpose acquisition company (Spac) backed by billionaires Richard Li and Peter Thiel.
The combined entity will start trading March 18 on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker PGRU, the company said in a regulatory filing.
PropertyGuru, led by chief executive Hari Krishnan, is attempting to list at a challenging time for Spacs. After a flurry of listings last year, the market has now been hit by diminishing investor interest, a crackdown by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and falling stock prices.
Grab Holdings, South-east Asia's biggest ride-hailing and delivery company, has plummeted about 65 per cent since the transaction was completed in December amid a broader tech sell-off and a disappointing earnings report. It was the largest Spac deal.
The difficult conditions echo past challenges for PropertyGuru. Back in 2019, it scrapped plans for an initial public offering in Australia amid a rocky market and valuation concerns.
PropertyGuru, founded by Mr Steve Melhuish and Mr Jani Rautiainen in Singapore 15 years ago to help residents search for real estate online, has become a household name in the city-state. The company has since expanded into verticals such as home loans and data analytics, and moved into markets including Indonesia and Malaysia.

PropertyGuru is expecting total sales to rise 44 per cent to $145.1 million in 2022, banking on growth across all markets as economies reopen after the pandemic, according to a statement in February.
The company also said it expects to return to positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.
Bridgetown 2 shares, originally sold at US$10 each, fell 12 per cent on Monday to US$8.26 in New York. They rebounded a little on Tuesday and were up 3.4 per cent at 10.29am.

 

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Real estate firm PropertyGuru starts trading on New York Stock Exchange​

The official bell-ringing ceremony in New York was live-streamed in Singapore, on March 18, 2022. ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR

Choo Yun Ting
Business Correspondent


MAR 18, 2022

SINGAPORE - Singapore-based online firm PropertyGuru started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday (March 18) after its merger with blank-cheque company Bridgetown 2 Holdings.
The combined entity, which is trading under the ticker PGRU, opened at US$8.61.
Bridgetown 2 Holdings stock had closed at US$8.33 on Thursday. Bridgetown 2, like other Spacs or special purpose acquisition companies, started trading at US$10 when it went public.
PropertyGuru's listing was celebrated by around 150 employees, partners, investors and other guests at an event held at Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The official bell-ringing ceremony in New York was live-streamed at the event in Singapore.
PropertyGuru chief executive and managing director Hari Krishnan, other executives and the company's founders were in New York for the market debut.
Mr Krishnan told employees and other guests on Friday that the listing creates new opportunities and avenues to "exploit the future for the group".

"It's taken us 15 years to get here. We still have a lot of work ahead of us," he said.
"We're very, very proud to wave the flag of South-east Asian tech and to bring it to the New York Stock Exchange and share that story in the years to come," he added, paying tribute to the efforts of the company's employees over PropertyGuru's 15-year history.
The merger of PropertyGuru and Bridgetown 2 Holdings, which is backed by billionaires Richard Li and Peter Thiel, was approved earlier this week at a special shareholder meeting.

The deal gave PropertyGuru an equity value of about US$1.61 billion (S$2.18 billion).
The firm - launched in 2007 by founders Jani Rautiainen and Steve Melhuish - has operations across several South-east Asian markets, including Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.
Aside from its property search and digital marketing services, it has also expanded into other related offerings including a mortgage marketplace and now employs around 1,400 people.
In 2019, PropertyGuru scrapped plans to list in Australia due to uncertain market conditions.
Last month, it announced a 22.7 per cent increase in revenue to $100.7 million for the 2021 financial year, exceeding its projected turnover of $97.5 million.

It said it expects revenue in this financial year to grow 44 per cent year on year, in part due to the firm's strong business momentum and the projected expansion of South-east Asian markets as they emerge from the impact of Covid-19.
Friday's listing comes at a difficult time as investor interest towards Spacs wane, partly down to heightened scrutiny by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and falling stock prices of firms that listed through Spac mergers.
Spacs raise capital from public markets and use that cash to merge with a private company, typically with the goal of taking the target firm public within two years.

 

[winners]

SPACS are dangerious derivatives. Stay away if possible.

 

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Grab, Sea price slump could affect S-E Asian unicorns going public​

Grab listed on the Nasdaq last December through a US$40 billion special purpose acquisition company (Spac) deal. PHOTO: ST FILE

Choo Yun Ting
Business Correspondent

Mar 24, 2022

SINGAPORE - The slumping share prices of South-east Asian tech giants Sea and Grab combined with geopolitical tensions and surging inflation could derail the listing ambitions of leading Singapore and regional start-ups, industry observers said.
Super app Grab, which listed on the Nasdaq last December through a US$40 billion (S$53 billion) special purpose acquisition company (Spac) deal, has seen its share price fall to around US$3.75, a far cry from its listing intra-day high of US$13.06 and debut close of US$8.75.
Sea, which owns e-commerce platform Shopee and gaming arm Garena, has suffered a US$150 billion plunge in its market value since late last year. The stock is trading at around US$114, about a third of its peak of US$367 last November and below the US$200 it was trading at a year or so ago.
Mr Terence Wong, founder and chief executive of Azure Capital, said investors will be even more cautious given current global uncertainties. "Interest rates are going up even if they are still low compared to historical levels. The best days of cheap and easily available liquidity are coming to an end."
Investors will be forced to ask hard questions against this backdrop of tightening liquidity, he said.
Some of the region's biggest tech-related firms are still keen to chance their arm on the share market.
Singapore-based property listings platform PropertyGuru, which was valued at more than US$1 billion in the private sphere, started trading on the New York Stock Exchange last Friday after merging with a Spac, Bridgetown 2 Holdings.

And Indonesia's GoTo, which was formed last year through the merger of ride-hailing firm Gojek and e-commerce player Tokopedia, is looking to raise US$1.3 billion in its initial public offering, with an estimated listing on April 4.
Professor Mak Yuen Teen from the National University of Singapore Business School said that unless start-ups can convince investors that they have a clear path to profitability in the not-too-distant future, they may struggle.
Valuations must be more realistic, he said, adding: "Investors will be even more sceptical if the listing is through a Spac, given how poorly many have performed recently."

Mr Wong said investors have growing concerns about the high valuations and potential of some unicorns - privately held firms valued at US$1 billion or more - given the US Federal Reserve's interest rate hike and rising inflation.
"It's a sign of the times," he said, noting that the market was waxing lyrical in 2020 about how unicorn start-ups and their business models would be well suited to a post-pandemic world.
Associate Professor Vijay Yadav from ESSEC Business School said that uncertainties around valuations are usually more severe in the case of young companies that are in their initial growth phase and yet to generate any profit.
In such cases, market sentiment plays a big role so the poor performance of companies like Grab would probably affect the valuations and post-listing performances of new companies that have yet to become profitable.

He said that investors have become more sceptical of Spacs given the poor performance of companies that listed through this route in recent years, with many trading below their debut price.
Prof Mak noted that Sea's recent share price decline is likely due to a combination of factors - its poor financial performance, the ban of Garena's popular Free Fire game in India and the pull-out of Shopee from France.
"I think investors must wonder how it is going to be profitable when it is still making big losses despite the success of the Free Fire game and Shopee in this region," he said.
"The pullout of Shopee from France also indicates that their business model may not work in certain markets."

Prof Mak noted that Sea's recent share price decline is likely due to a combination of factors. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Nonetheless, DBS Bank analyst Sachin Mittal remains confident about Sea's prospects, with the bank recommending a target price of US$256. Its guidance for Grab is a "hold" with a target price of US$5.60.
Mr Mittal noted on March 16 that GoTo Group's overall Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) losses are significantly higher than its South-east Asian peers and reaffirmed that Sea would be a preferred investment pick.
While institutional investors generally have the patience to withstand short-term losses and could stand to reap profits from long-term investments in such companies, the same does not apply for retail investors, Prof Yadav said.
"Retail investors who have neither the resources to evaluate such companies nor the patience to withstand short-term losses should invest only a small part of their portfolio in young and unprofitable companies," he added.

 

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US proposes boosting Spac disclosures, liability to protect investors​

The SEC has stepped up oversight of Spacs amid worries of inadequate disclosures and lofty revenue projections. PHOTO: REUTERS

Mar 31, 2022

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - Wall Street's watchdog on Wednesday (March 30) unveiled a draft new rule to enhance blank-cheque company investor disclosures and to strip them of a legal protection that critics argue has allowed the shell companies to issue overly optimistic earnings projections.
The move by the United States' Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is part of a broader crackdown on special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs) after a frenzy of deals in 2020 and early 2021 sparked concerns that some investors are getting a raw deal.
Wall Street's biggest gold rush of recent years, Spacs are shell companies that raise funds through a listing to acquire a private company and take it public, allowing the target to sidestep the stiffer regulatory scrutiny of a traditional initial public offering (IPO).
The SEC proposal, which is subject to consultation, broadly aims to close that loophole by offering Spac investors protections similar to those they would receive during the IPO process, the SEC said.
"Today's proposal, if adopted, would represent a sea change to the rules applicable to Spacs," said Mr John Ablan, a partner at law firm Mayer Brown, who advises companies on IPOs and other deals. "The SEC is clearly focused on creating incentives... to undertake the same amount of due diligence that would be done in a traditional IPO."
The rule would require Spacs to disclose more details about their sponsors, their compensation, conflicts of interest and share dilution.
It would also enhance disclosures about the target takeover, known as the "de-Spac", including the sponsor's view on whether the deal is fair to investors and whether the proposed transaction has been vetted by third parties.

Such disclosures would have to be issued at least 20 days prior to any solicited votes on the acquisition.
"Companies raising money from the public should provide full and fair disclosure at the time investors are making their crucial decisions to invest," SEC chair Gary Gensler said.
The rule would also strip Spacs of a liability safe harbour for forward-looking statements, such as earnings projections.
The SEC has stepped up oversight of Spacs amid worries of inadequate disclosures and lofty revenue projections. Reuters reported last year that the SEC was considering new guidance to rein in Spacs' growth projections.
Spac sponsors say the projections are important for investors, especially when targets are unprofitable start-ups, but investor advocates say they are frequently wildly optimistic or misleading but have been shielded by the legal safe harbour.
"The elimination of the statutory safe harbour... will cause Spac issuers and their advisers to be more cautious in including pro forma and other financial information with respect to a proposed business combination," said Mr Morris DeFeo, a New York-based partner at law firm Herrick, Feinstein LLP.


If Spacs do not meet certain conditions, they may have to register as investment companies, subjecting them to a slew of other rules, the SEC said.
Those conditions include maintaining assets in certain forms, entering into a deal with a target within 18 months of the Spac IPO, closing the transaction within 24 months and ensuring that the newly merged company engages primarily in the same business as the target.
Gatekeepers who facilitate the deals, such as auditors, lawyers and underwriters, should also be held responsible for their work before and after the Spac listing, Mr Gensler added.
The US Spac market experienced a wild ride in 2021, with an explosion in deals during the first half of the year that quickly cooled off in the second half. All told, 604 Spacs raised US$144 billion (S$195 billion) in 2021, according to data from Renaissance Capital.

 

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In the US, the independent Securities and Exchange Commission decides on the rules for SPACs, not the stock exchanges.
In Singapore, the SGX decides the rules. What a massive conflict of interests.

SEC Deals a Big Blow to SPACs​

The commission’s proposed changes include heightened disclosure, no safe harbor for misleading projections — and less time to find a deal.

• Michelle Celarier

March 30, 2022

Gary Gensler (Bill Clark/Bloomberg)
The hype around special purpose acquisition companies — and the investor losses that have resulted since the SPAC boom began to fizzle a year ago — has led the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue harsh new SPAC rules and amendments that go beyond what many originally envisioned.
The changes are so onerous that Hester Peirce, the lone commissioner who opposed them, said in a hearing Wednesday that they “seem designed to stop SPACs in their tracks.” (Peirce is the only Republican commissioner at the SEC.)
But according to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, the commission is simply trying to protect investors and erase the arbitrage that exists between initial public offerings and SPACs, which is often to the detriment of investors.
Unlike hedge funds and institutional investors, who can benefit from a SPAC’s lucrative warrants by getting in on the IPO or PIPE deal, retail investors typically lose money investing in SPACs. Critics have argued this is due to a SPAC’s complex and opaque structure, which rewards insiders, as well as the often poor quality of companies that choose to go public via a SPAC rather than a traditional IPO, which has tougher requirements.
“Functionally, the SPAC target IPO is being used as an alternative means to conduct an IPO,” Gensler said in a statement. “Thus, investors deserve the protections they receive from traditional IPOs, with respect to information asymmetries, fraud, and conflicts, and when it comes to disclosure, marketing practices, gatekeepers, and issuers.”
The proposed changes include “specialized disclosure requirements with respect to, among other things, compensation paid to sponsors, conflicts of interest, dilution, and the fairness of these business combination transactions,” the SEC said.
The new rules would also allow investors to sue SPACs over misleading projections. The strict liability would not only affect the sponsors, but also their underwriters, accountants, and others involved in a SPAC’s merger deal, known as a deSPAC.
This change addresses the criticism of SPACs being able to make overly optimistic forward-looking statements in a deSPAC because they are entitled to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Act — something IPOs do not have. Last year, the SEC’s acting director of the division of corporation finance, John Coates, indicated that the SEC was prepared to challenge those protections.
The issue became more serious during the recent SPAC boom, with many more speculative companies — those with no revenues — choosing to go public via a SPAC. Many of those stocks crashed after the companies did not meet their lofty projections.

Now the SEC is proposing to change the definition of “blank-check company” for the purposes of the PSLRA safe harbor for forward-looking statements to exclude SPACs and target companies in de-SPAC transactions.
“Many commentators have raised concerns about the use of forward-looking statements that they believe to be unreasonable in de-SPAC transactions,” the SEC’s proposal states. “By providing greater clarity regarding the availability of the PSLRA safe harbor, the proposed amendment should strengthen the incentives for a blank-check company, including a SPAC, to avoid potentially unreasonable and potentially misleading forward-looking statements.”
Strict liability means that no intent to defraud is required to prove damages. SPAC participants have pushed back against this proposed change, in particular the provision that puts underwriters on the hook along with the SPAC’s sponsors, according to people familiar with their lobbying efforts.
The SEC acknowledged that the change is going to add costs to SPACs, limiting their appeal.
“This increase in potential liability from the current baseline for targets and their signing officers and directors could impact the decision of a private company to go public via a de-SPAC transaction,” the SEC said in its proposal, acknowledging “the increased litigation risk and the potential need for new insurance coverage or higher premiums for existing coverage.”
Finally, SPAC sponsors will have less time to find a deal in order to keep their IPO proceeds invested in cash-like securities without coming under the 1940 Investment Company Act rules. Three SPACs, including Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, have been sued by law professors claiming that they should fall under that act's provisions because the SPACs are holding government securities in trust (like all SPACs do).
The proposed rule would allow SPACs to avoid the risk of such litigation if they meet certain conditions. Currently SPACs give sponsors 24 months to find a merger target — and additional time to complete the deal — before they must liquidate and return cash to investors.The proposed rule would shorten that time period to 18 months to announce a deal, and 24 months to complete it, in order to be avoid being considered an investment company.
That provision could have unintended consequences. One of the biggest criticisms of SPACs is that sponsors who get a 20 percent stake in a SPAC virtually for free have an incentive to complete any deal within the time frame, and many poor deals have been struck right before the 24-month deadline. If that deadline is pushed up, even more bad deals could be struck.
More than 500 SPACs that went public in 2020 and 2021 are still searching for deals.

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

So it’s like believing a registered office address in the middle of Shenton Way means a company is doing well? Haa

 

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SPAC tied to Trump's social media venture sinks as downloads slump 95%​

Downloads have slowly declined to 8,000 per day from an initial boom of 170,000, according to research firm Apptopia. PHOTO: AFP

Apr 1, 2022

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Shares of the blank-cheque firm bringing Mr Donald Trump's media venture public are sinking, with daily downloads for the former president's social media app declining 95 per cent since launching last month.
Digital World Acquisition, the special purpose acquisition company (Spac) merging with Trump Media & Technology Group, has shed 31 per cent of its value since shares soared late in February when the Truth Social app launched on the Apple App Store.
Downloads have slowly declined to 8,000 a day from an initial boom of 170,000, according to research firm Apptopia. The number of daily active users on Apple devices over the past week was roughly 513,000, according to Apptopia estimates shared with Bloomberg News.
That figure may not be complete because hundreds of thousands of users were able to download the app with the ability to open it on their device, but are still on a waiting list without access to its full functionality. Truth Social is also not yet available to Android users, a group that could potentially bring up millions in additional downloads.
For comparison, people-connecting sites Yubo and Wizz boast similar daily US iOS user metrics to Truth Social, while Parler has 20,000 to 25,000 daily iOS users in the United States, Apptopia's data shows. Truth Social is part of Mr Trump's plans for a media and tech empire and describes itself as an alternative to Twitter.
Representatives for Trump Media and Digital World did not immediately respond to e-mails requesting comment.
The app's debut had a range of problems, with users being told they could not sign up even as others received error messages. Despite the rocky debut, the Spac rallied 10 per cent to a four-month high.

The shares are up nearly 550 per cent from a debut last year amid heavy demand from retail investors. Still, there has been little detail for investors regarding how Trump Media plans to operate. The latest plan has been for a social network, news channel, streaming service and eventually a cloud computing platform.

 

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Quote: "Still, analysts have been slow to cut target prices given the two companies’ status as market leaders in Southeast Asia. They expect a return of at least 68% on both stocks over the next 12 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg."

What are the analysts smoking!!??

A $96.3 bil plunge in the share prices of Grab and Sea Limited casts doubt on Singapore's new economy aura​

Bloomberg
Mon, Apr 04, 2022

Photo: Bloomberg

Singapore’s two largest new-economy firms have been touted as the next big thing for years. A US$71 billion ($96.3 billion) rout in their share prices in 2022 seems to show investors aren’t buying the story.
Shares of ride-hailing company Grab Holdings Ltd. have more than halved since the start of the year while gaming and e-commerce giant Sea Ltd.’s stock price has tumbled by 46%. The two US-listed firms are languishing at the bottom of the MSCI Asean Index, with Grab among the biggest losers on the Asia Pacific stock benchmark as well.
The slump comes months after MSCI Inc. added the shares to its indexes amid much fanfare as it sought to give its regional gauges more exposure to new economy stocks. The tech selloff and waning global interest in special purpose acquisition companies have taken a toll on the firms.

“Passive investors would have lost a fair bit of money on these stocks,” said Brian Freitas, an analyst who publishes research on independent research website Smartkarma. Future price action “depends on how the companies perform and the global macro environment -- neither of which look terribly encouraging at the moment.”

Grab was added to the MSCI Asean Index in February, hot on the heels of its merger with blank-check company Altimeter Growth Corp. Sea’s inclusion in the gauge began in May last year.
Freitas estimates that passive holdings of Sea and Grab are close to US$2.8 billion and US$280 million, respectively. The stocks have lost a combined US$71 billion in market value this year.
Judging by the earnings outlook, there may be little respite in store. Sea, which counts Chinese social media leader Tencent Holdings Ltd. as its biggest shareholder, is betting on growth at its online retail unit Shopee as its gaming arm faces slower bookings. But, Sea shut its main e-commerce operation in India on March 29, soon after the country banned its marquee flagship game Free Fire along with dozens of apps it says are of Chinese origin, citing security concerns.

“Shopee’s growth trajectory is flattening rapidly alongside India and France exits,” said Oshadhi Kumarasiri, an equity analyst with LightStream Research. “For a company priced expensively based on its future growth, it’s difficult to brush off the impact of an exit from a huge market like India. The growth story of Sea is falling apart.”

Meanwhile, Grab’s losses are mounting and the firm continues to splurge on subsidies.

Still, analysts have been slow to cut target prices given the two companies’ status as market leaders in Southeast Asia. They expect a return of at least 68% on both stocks over the next 12 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

 

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Citi to pause new SPAC issuance as US signals crackdown: Sources​

The bank is awaiting feedback from legal advisers regarding underwriter liability among other topics. PHOTO: REUTERS

Apr 5, 2022

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Citigroup is among underwriters that have temporarily paused initial public offerings (IPOs) of new US special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs) until they get more clarity on potential legal risks posed by recently proposed rules, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The bank is awaiting feedback from legal advisers regarding underwriter liability, among other topics, said the people.
The firm has no plans to exit the business, some of the people said.
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a sweeping plan for tightening oversight of Spacs after US lawmakers and investor advocates argued that the listings were bypassing rules imposed on traditional IPOs and exposing retail shareholders to risks.
The SEC's proposal would broadly require Spacs to disclose more information about potential conflicts of interest and make it easier for investors to sue over false projections.
A Citigroup spokesman declined to comment.
Citigroup is among the United States' most prolific Spac underwriters, ranking second in 2020 and first in 2021. Over the two-year period, it raised US$31.6 billion (S$43 billion) from 146 IPOs.

This year, issuance has slowed as Spacs have fallen out of favour with investors, in part due to lackluster returns following the consummation of a transaction.
Still, Citigroup is ranked second behind Cantor Fitzgerald, having raised US$1.1 billion from five deals, including US$750 million for former MGM chairman Harry Sloan's Screaming Eagle Acquisition, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
In its proposal, the SEC deemed the underwriters of a Spac IPO to also be underwriters of the blank-cheque company's subsequent purchase of another firm, a deal known as the de-Spac transaction.
"Underwriters play a critical role in the securities offering process as gatekeepers to the public markets," the SEC wrote. The proposed rule should "should better motivate Spac underwriters to exercise the care necessary to ensure the accuracy of the disclosure in these transactions", the watchdog added.
The expansion of underwriter liability to include de-Spacs may lead to changes in the practices of investment banks "given the heightened risks", lawyers from Sidley Austin LLP wrote in a memo to clients.
"Investment banks involved with de-Spac transactions do not typically conduct the same level of due diligence as they would for a traditional IPO," the lawyers said.

 

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SPAC listing in US on the cards for S'pore digital healthcare platform EUDA​

EUDA serves a wide variety of healthcare needs including wellness and prevention as well as pre-existing conditions. PHOTO: KENTRIDGEHEALTH.COM

Ven Sreenivasan
Associate Editor

Apr 18, 2022

SINGAPORE - Singapore-based special purpose acquisition company (Spac) 8i Acquisition 2 Corp is planning a business combination with home-grown digital healthcare platform EUDA Health.
EUDA, founded by Singapore doctor Kelvin Chen in 2017, uses its proprietary artificial intelligence-driven healthcare analytics platform to digitally connect patients, insurers, and medical professionals to optimise patient care.
The company serves a wide variety of healthcare needs, including wellness and prevention, urgent care and emergencies, as well as pre-existing conditions.
8i Acquisition Corp chief executive James Tan said his stock purchase agreement with EUDA, followed by a planned Nasdaq listing in the United States, would put the healthcare company on a much stronger financial footing for future growth.
"Through its differentiated AI platform and commitment to providing the highest level of patient outcomes, EUDA Health has attracted the partnerships of internationally recognised blue-chip organisations," he added.
"In a short period, the management team has built a truly unique platform and gained a meaningful foothold into the Asia Pacific region."
The pro forma enterprise value of the combined company is expected to be approximately US$580 million (S$790 million) with cash on hand of approximately US$90 million, assuming no redemptions are made.

Since its founding in 2019, EUDA Health has grown steadily and is targeting to operate across five countries - Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, India and Indonesia - by the end of 2022.
Dr Chen, who is founder and CEO, said that the company aims to make healthcare more affordable and accessible, while improving the patient experience and outcomes through personalised healthcare.
"Our platform creates an ecosystem that accomplishes this through comprehensive, end-to-end care. We have assembled a team of experts from every corner of the industry who are passionate about transforming how patients are cared for."
He added that EUDA's artificial intelligence-enabled healthcare platform streamlines the entire patient journey from registration to treatment to ongoing care by breaking down silos between different healthcare providers, aligning all patient information, personalising and improving patient outcomes and experience.
The result helps generate up to 40 per cent cost savings for patients on average.

To support this, the company has built an ecosystem of more than 250,000 medical professionals across Asia and has amassed over 35 million members and 5,000 corporate clients across seven countries in three years.
Proceeds from the trust account (assuming no redemptions) are expected to be used for product development and other artificial intelligence technology research, business expansion and potential strategic investment and acquisition opportunities.
In 2023, EUDA is expected to generate an estimated revenue and adjusted Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of US$200 million and US$43 million respectively.
Upon the conclusion of the transaction, the listed entity - now known as 8i Acquisition 2 Corp - will be renamed EUDA Health Limited under a new ticker symbol "EUDA" on the Nasdaq.

 

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https://claimyourloss.com/securities/grab-holdings-limited-loss-submission-form/?id=26252&from=1

AKUBOWITZ LAW IS HERE TO HELP SHAREHOLDERS WHO PURCHASEDGrab Holdings Limited (GRAB)​

Grab Holdings is facing a class action lawsuit alleging that the Company made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that:
(1) Grab’s driver supply declined during the third quarter; (2) as a result, Grab continued to invest heavily in driver and consumer incentives to “preemptively recalibrate driver supply”; (3) as a result, the Company’s financial results would be adversely impacted, including, among other things, a significant decline in revenue; and (4) as a result of the foregoing, defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially
misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.

If you incurred a loss on GRAB stocks purchased between November 12, 2021 and March 2, 2022, this lawsuit is on your behalf. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and our firm is reaching out to investors to discuss their legal rights.
If you wish to act as a representative of the shareholders harmed by this misconduct, you may ask the court to appoint you as lead plaintiff. A lead plaintiff directs the litigation and participates in important decisions, including whether to accept a settlement for the class in the action.
You only have until May 16, 2022 to apply to be lead plaintiff. The court will then evaluate the applicants and choose a lead plaintiff. You are not required to act as a lead plaintiff in order to participate in any recovery.

 

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Global banks flee the monster Spac market they helped create​

New guidelines from the Securities and Exchange Commission have sucked air out of the Spac balloon. PHOTO: REUTERS

May 10, 2022

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Just a few years after banks helped create a gargantuan market for blank cheque companies, they're pulling away from the deals, afraid of the risks.
Goldman Sachs is ending its involvement with most of the special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs) it took public and pausing new US Spac issuance, Bloomberg reported on Monday (May 9). Bank of America scaled back work with some Spacs and could retreat further as it evaluates its policies surrounding the deals, people familiar with the matter said.
Their pullback follows an intense boom in the vehicles over the past couple of years, as financiers, politicians and celebrities piled into the deals that list on public stock exchanges to raise money so they can buy other companies. But new guidelines from the Securities and Exchange Commission have sucked air out of the balloon, which was already rapidly deflating thanks to souring markets, jittery regulators and dwindling returns for the deals.
The banks' recent concerns center around liability risks stemming from the new rules, which are aimed at tightening oversight on a market after it set back-to-back yearly records. The proposals would require Spacs to disclose more information about potential conflicts of interest and make it easier for investors to sue over false projections.
They also would require underwriters of a blank-cheque offering to also be underwriters of the Spac's subsequent purchase of a target firm, known as the de-Spac. That expansion of underwriter liability poses a greater risk for investment banks, prominent law firms have cautioned.
And so far, it's put the breaks on for Wall Street's biggest banks with others expected to follow. Citigroup paused initial public offerings of new US Spacs until it gets more clarity on the potential legal risks posed by the guidelines, Bloomberg reported last month.
Goldman is retreating because of the proposed rules, though it may elect to continue the advisory work with a small number of Spac clients in rare cases. Bank of America, which is also continuing selective work with some deals, has ended its relationships with some Spacs and been in discussions with clients on navigating the current environment, Bloomberg reported.

Together, Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman accounted for more than 27 per cent of US Spac deals since the start of last year, overseeing about US$47 billion (S$65.4 billion) of the transactions, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
A Spac works with its adviser even after going public to complete its merger with a target firm, known as the de-Spac transaction. If it fails to complete that deal, it's forced to return capital to investors.
The recent retreat is likely to anger clients who had stepped up capital to get their Spacs off the ground and are still seeking takeover targets to compete their mergers. It's unusual for a bank to withdraw from an active blank-check firm because it typically works on the de-Spac as well. The move risks leaving the sponsor of the Spac - its client - in the lurch and unhappy.
The sentiment also weighed on shares, with the De-Spac Index - which tracks 25 companies that have gone public through a merger with a Spac - plunging 10.4 per cent on Monday. U.S.-listed special purpose acquisition companies raised US$679.3 million via initial public offerings in April, 89 per cent less than the monthly average of US$5.95 billion in the last year, Bloomberg data show.