eToro’s SPAC to liquidate, delist from Nasdaq before year-end
The troubled SPAC market isn’t getting any better. Betsy Cohen-backed blank-check company FinTech Acquisition Corp (FTCV.O) is seeking shareholder approval to shut down and return money to investors before the end of the year.
The move comes nearly five months after eToro’s planned public listing through a merger with the special purpose acquisition company has been terminated.
According to a new filing with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US, Cohen’s SPAC has written to its stockholders to seek approval, via a vote, to return the $250 million it raised to investors.
“The proceeds of the trust account will be held in a non-interest bearing account while awaiting disbursement to the holders of the Public Shares. Record holders will receive their pro rata portion of the proceeds of the trust account, less $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and net of taxes payable,” the filing reads.
The accelerated liquidation will come sometime this year, and is expected to be completed within ten business days after December 28, 2022. The company anticipates that the public shares, as well as its publicly traded units and warrants, will cease trading on December 27, 2022.
The filing notes that the company’s management has reviewed other potential targets, although the exact number of partners isn’t specified. Its board also believes it’s “very unlikely” that the firm would complete a business combination with any of these potential targets for a variety of reasons.
eToro abandoned its plans to go public even after it lowered its SPAC valuation down to $8.8 billion from the earlier planned $10.4 billion, as market conditions changed and SPACs face more headwind. Worse still, the social investment work is reportedly in talks to close a private funding round of roughly $1 billion, but at only $5-6 billion valuation.
Going public through a blank-cheque company was originally scheduled for a Q3 2021 closing. However, meeting investors to pitch a direct listing has hit a bump and the deadline was pushed back to the fourth quarter as the SPAC boom was already fading away.
On a last-ditch attempt, eToro pushed back the completion of its reverse merger deal with the blank-check company backed by Betsy Cohen. Specifically, the deal deadline was extended from the earlier anticipated close on December 31, 2021 to June 30, 2022. Despite their ‘best efforts’, the parties haven’t satisfied the requisite closing conditions set forth in the original merger agreement, including eToro’s registration statement on Form F-4 to be effective.
