Take Back The SPAC: More And More Companies Are Canceling High-Profile Deals To Go Public

Take Back The SPAC: More And More Companies Are Canceling High-Profile Deals To Go Public

Tilman Fertitta, the billionaire owner of Fertitta Entertainment, the parent company of Golden Nugget casinos, Landry's restaurants and the Houston Rockets. Experts have long doubted the sustainability of the pandemic-era SPAC boom, during which hundreds of companies have used blank-check vehicles to raise tens of billions of dollars at their IPOs. The frenzy has cooled over the past year, as many companies saw their shares plummet after going public. But now a new trend is emerging: A growing number of SPAC deals are collapsing before the listed shell merges with its acquisition target. The rush of cancelations at the end of 2021 includes the planned merger of Fertitta Entertainment–the parent company of Golden Nugget casinos, Landry's restaurant and other assets owned by billionaire Tilman Fertitta–with the blank-check firm Fast Acquisition Corp. Also called off in recent weeks were impending fusions involving BBQGuys, the online grill retailer backed by NFL giants Eli and Payton Manning; fintech back office company Apex Fintech; and cloud software platform ServiceMax. In total, some 17 SPAC mergers, valued at a collective $37. 2 billion, have been terminated during the final six months of 2021, compared to four worth $720 million during the six months prior, according