Hedge Fund SPACmail?

IPO VIEW-For blank-check IPOs, popularity comes at a price
02.22.08, 8:06 PM ET By Jonathan Keehner

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blank-check companies have been some of the hottest initial public offerings in recent months, but hedge funds with an eye for profit may be short-circuiting them, a trend that could end up stunting the IPO market.

Blank-check companies, or special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), which use proceeds from share sales to fund future acquisitions, can work well. Retailer American Apparel Inc was acquired last year by one.

SPACs raised nearly four times more in 2007 than in the year before, bolstered by a credit crunch that sidelined competitors like private equity firms that rely on debt to make acquisitions.

But SPACs, which sold more than $12 billion of shares last year, have run afoul of investors like hedge funds -- who can demand that the companies return cash if they don't like a potential acquisition."

Some of the difficulty for SPACs in completing acquisitions is the entrance of what might be described as activist investors," said Brett Goetschius, publisher of DealFlow Media, which collects data and has a newsletter on SPACs. "Investors can essentially 'greenmail' the SPAC management to buy out their shares in order to get acquisition approval."

Read more >>> Reuters via Forbes

MAC SPAC's Vague PR

Huh?

NEW YORK, NY – February 20, 2008 – Marathon Acquisition Corp. (AMEX: MAQ.U) (the “Company”) announced today that it has met the condition under its Certificate of Incorporation that permits it until August 30, 2008 to complete an appropriate acquisition meeting the criteria set forth therein. The Company will make an additional announcement once it has entered into a definitive agreement to complete a business combination.

View PR at SEC.gov

Read More >>> NY Times DealBook and Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald

Nasdaq Floats SPAC Listing Plan

Nasdaq plans blank-check company listing standards

NEW YORK, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Nasdaq Stock Market Inc (NDAQ.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it will propose standards for listing "blank-check" companies, an increasingly popular type of entity formed solely to acquire other businesses.

Blank-check companies, also known as special-purpose acquisition vehicles, raised more than $12 billion last year in initial public offerings, more than four times the record $2.6 billion in 2006, according to research firm Dealogic.

Nasdaq said it plans to ask the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a rule change to allow it to list blank-check companies. It said it plans to require such companies to meet more stringent standards than typical companies before winning Nasdaq listings. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Phil Berlowitz).

Read more >>> WSJ and Forbes and BloggingStocks

Hedgie SPAC: From Shell to Big Board

A Public Hedge Fund With Good News to Report
February 6, 2008, 2:27 pm

So far, the public markets have been kind to GLG Partners, a British hedge fund.

GLG made its first-ever earnings announcement as a public company, reporting a profit, excluding compensation costs related to its public offering last year, of $127.1 million. That’s a 72.3 percent rise over the same period a year earlier. Including the costs, GLG lost $315 million for the three months ended Dec. 31.

The news drove GLG’s shares up more than 10 percent in trading Wednesday morning, though they have since drifted down to about $12.47, or a 2.5 percent gain over Tuesday’s closing price.

Read more >>> NYT DealBook

See related >>> SEC Admin. Proceedings: In the Matter of GLG PARTNERS, LP

Biggest Ever EuroSPAC is Next...

Financiers to list cash shell on Euronext

By Kate Burgess in London
January 31 2008 02:15

Shares in a new cash shell are to be listed on Euronext early next month with the aim of buying into a European company worth between €3bn ($4.45bn) and €5bn within two years.

Nicolas Berggruen and Martin Franklin, who completed the biggest takeover by a “blank cheque” acquisition company in the US last year, are seeking to raise €700m for a new European “blank cheque” company called Liberty International.

It will be the biggest “special purpose acquisition company”, or Spac, to be launched in Europe and marks a new phase in the spread of these publicly-listed shells which are designed to raise cash from investors and then identify a business to buy.

Read more >>> Financial Times article

Feb. 10, 2008 Update >>> Berggruen Holdings and Marlin Equities List €600 Million Liberty International on Euronext

Bulldog Bites Into Blank Checks

Goldstein Launching SPAC Fund
by Paula Schaap

Activist hedge fund firm Bulldog Investors is preparing a special purpose acquisitions companies (SPACs) fund in anticipation of strong returns for that sector.

Bulldog’s cofounder Phil Goldstein said that the firm had a lot of experience over the past two years in SPACs. Sometimes called “blank check” companies, these firms raise a pool of money to put into unspecified mergers.

Goldstein said he likes the SPAC model because most of the money is held in a trust.

“We see a lot of opportunities in SPACs to make money with pretty low risk,” Goldstein said.

Read more >>> HedgeFund.net article

Hollywood: Attack of the SPAC

By DADE HAYES

New investment scheme attracting big names

Hollywood has been hopping with hedge funds and pumped with private equity. Now, get ready for a SPAC attack.

The dissonant acronym -- which stands for Special Purpose Acquisition Company --represents a new investment scheme attracting big names and heralding a potential wave of media deals.

There are not apt to be deals in the $1 billion-plus price range. And many of the outfits tilt toward new media, videogames and telecom rather than TV and film production. But the list of those steering SPACs suggests that even modest-size deals could rearrange the media landscape in some intriguing ways.

The roster includes former high-ranking execs at Sony, AOL, DirecTV, ABC and Anchor Bay. Both R. Steven Hicks, the Austin, Texas-based radio mogul, and billionaire brother Tom Hicks jumped into the game last year, as did Ron Perelman. SPAC board members and advisors include the likes of one-time NBC exec Scott Sassa, Walden Media's Cary Granat and deep-pocketed AOL alum Ted Leonsis.

A more mellifluous shorthand for these firms -- "blank-check companies" -- helps explain their quirky mission and sudden popularity. And with everyone from Time Warner to Barry Diller rethinking the bigger-is-better mantra that helped create the media congloms, this could be prime time for those with blank checks to write.

There are now almost 100 such firms across all industries, at least eight of them targeting media and entertainment. The number of SPACs spiked 78% in 2007, according to industry tracker SPAC Analytics.

And Wall Street has taken notice.

Read more >>> Variety article
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