As the SPAC and target work towards a business combination agreement, share dilution becomes a key negotiation point of the SPAC. BDO USA, LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership, is the U.S. member of BDO International Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, and forms part of the international BDO network of independent member firms. The sponsors are generally granted an initial, separate class of "founders shares" for a nominal cost, which normally convert to public shares on the completion of the de-SPAC transaction. com currently does not have any sponsors for you. Both the sponsor and the public IPO investors receive warrants (although usually disproportionately to common shares), so the sponsor and the public IPO investors are aligned in terms of warrant structure and terms. SPACs have the following characteristics: The units sold to the public typically include a fraction of a warrant to purchase a whole share, while the sponsor purchases whole warrants. The balance of the proceeds from the private placement is retained by the SPAC to pay expenses, including expenses incurred to identify a suitable target for the business combination transaction. After reading this primer, you will be able to answer the following question: what do Shaquille ONeal, Bill Ackman, Serena Williams, former House Speaker Paul Ryan, Alex Rodriguez and Chamath Palihapitiya have in common? The per unit purchase price is almost always $10.00. All organizational and offering expenses are paid by the SPAC from proceeds of the IPO and sale of the founder shares and founder warrants. SPAC charters provide for the establishment of the public shares and founder shares, including the anti-dilution adjustment to the conversion ratio for the founder shares. SPAC Warrants and 8 Frequently Asked Questions. High redemption rates see SPACs relying on alternative financing Rushing through the process without the right expertise can put a successful outcome at risk, not to mention loss of funding and reputation of the sponsors. If the business combination is approved by the shareholders (if required) and the financing and other conditions specified in the acquisition agreement are satisfied, the business combination will be consummated (referred to as the De-SPAC transaction), and the SPAC and the target business will combine into a publicly traded operating company. However, within 52 days after the IPO, the units are severed, and the class A shares, often referred to as the public shares, and the warrants, often referred to as the public warrants, may be traded separately. The features of the SPAC world described in this primer give some insight into why this may be so. In these instances, the SEC staff will be especially keen on disclosure of any conflicts of interest that may arise in the sponsors identification and pursuit of potential targets for the various SPACs. How does ESG fit into business strategy? This Form 8-K is known as a Super 8-K and must contain all the information that would be required in a Form 10 registration statement (the registration statement for companies that become public reporting companies other than through a registered IPO). As described above, the purpose of the at-risk capital is to provide additional funding for the trust account and to pay IPO expenses and the operating capital needs of the SPAC. In 2019, SPAC IPOs raised $13.6 billion. The trust agreement typically permits withdrawals of interest earned on the funds held in the trust account to fund franchise and income taxes and occasionally permits withdrawal of a limited amount of interest (e.g., $750,000 per year) for working capital. In return, the parties would receive 200,000 sponsor shares if . (See below.) The sponsor receives a percentage of shares at the time of the offering normally 20% which are put in escrow pending consummation of a potential acquisition within a two-year period. The SPAC also enters into an investment management trust agreement with a trustee, which governs the investment and release of the funds held in the trust account after the IPO. No software installation. In a number of recent SPAC IPOs, affiliates of the sponsor or institutional investors have entered into a forward purchase agreement with the SPAC, committing to purchase equity (stock or units) in connection with the De-SPAC transaction to the extent the additional funds are necessary to complete the transaction. Under stock exchange listing rules, if a shareholder vote is sought, only shareholders who vote against the De-SPAC transaction are required to be offered the ability to redeem their public shares, but SPAC charter documents typically require the offer to be made to all holders. The purchase price paid by the sponsor for the founder warrants represents the at risk capital of the sponsor in the SPAC and is calculated as an amount equal to the upfront underwriting discount (typically 2% of the gross IPO proceeds) plus typically $2 million to cover offering expenses and post-IPO working capital. Servicemaster Fm ApplicationAt ServiceMaster Facilities Maintenance, we SPACs are formed by sophisticated financial practitioners, alternatively referred to as sponsors or founders. GlobeNewsWire - Fidus Investment Corp (FDUS) Fidus Investment However, SPAC sponsors also have a deadline by which they have to find a suitable deal, typically within. Therefore, gain may be avoided if the shares are sold immediately after the exchange. The restrictions apply to SPACs and former SPACs for varying periods depending on the specific rule. The sponsors may also receive warrants to purchase additional SPAC shares. This will result in a more involved transaction structure and may introduce complex tax issues. Also, the targets management team will likely continue in their roles in the surviving company, while benefiting from a new partnership with a well known sponsor team. In its IPO, the SPAC offers units, with each unit comprising one share of common stock, typically designated as class A shares, and either a fraction of a warrant to purchase a share of common stock, or one warrant to purchase a fraction of one share of common stock. Sponsors and their investors get the opportunity to invest in a growth stage company or other attractive target, carefully selected to match their investment criteria, with substantial upside opportunity. The SPAC Sponsor Handbook (2022 Update) - ClearThink Capital Servicemaster Fm ApplicationAt ServiceMaster Facilities Maintenance, we provide both one-time and routine cleaning services for your commercial facility in Memphis and the surrounding . Unlike the public shares, the founder shares are subject to contractual transfer restrictions, and their resale would either need to be registered under the Securities Act or be made in reliance on an exemption from registration. However, SPACs are not blank check companies within the scope of Rule 419 because SPACs have charter restrictions prohibiting them from being penny stock issuers (the term penny stock generally refers to a security issued by a very small company that trades at less than $5 per share). Nary a day goes by when we do not get an inquiry about SPACs. For example, in several recent SPAC IPOs, the sponsor transferred between 30,000 and 40,000 founder shares to each of the SPACs independent directors. If the SPAC is affiliated with a private equity group, the IPO prospectus will typically include disclosure indicating that members of the SPAC management team are employed by the private equity group, which is continuously made aware of potential business opportunities, one or more of which the SPAC may desire to pursue for a business combination. As is typical in PIPE transactions, the SPAC agrees to register for resale the SPAC securities acquired in the PIPE by the investors. The warrants become exercisable on the later of 30 days after the consummation of the business combination or 12 months from the IPO closing, and expire five years after the business combination. The sponsor and the SPAC enter into a securities purchase agreement providing for the issuance to the sponsor of the founder shares for $25,000. The sponsor of the SPAC will purchase warrants in an amount equal to the 2.0% upfront underwriting discount of the IPO (see below), plus funds to cover the offering expenses and expenses to find a target, with the aggregate price of the purchased warrants in most recent deals hovering between 2.3% to 3.0% of the gross IPO proceeds. The offerings of the founder warrants and the shares issuable upon exercise of the public warrants and founder warrants are not registered at the time of the IPO, but are typically subject to a registration rights agreement entered into at the time of the IPO that entitles the holders of these securities to certain demand and piggyback registration rights after the De-SPAC transaction. Unlike an investment in the IPO of a typical operating company in which the IPO stock price may rise or fall after the IPO, an investment in a SPAC IPO benefits from downside protection through the closing of the business combination. On the roadshow for the IPO, the sponsor team will highlight its experience, particularly the track record of the team in building value for shareholders. Learn more. (go back), 4Although the shares issued upon conversion of the founder shares are of the same class as the public shares, their resale would need to be registered under the Securities Act or eligible for an exemption from the registration requirements. We will consider late applications on a space-available basis. For that amount, the sponsor purchases founder warrants at a price of $1.50, $1.00 or $0.50 per warrant, depending on whether each unit sold in the IPO includes 1/3, 1/2 or 1 public warrant, respectively. Partner, National Corporate Tax and Mergers & Acquisitions Technical Practice Leader, Managing Director, National Corporate Tax and Mergers & Acquisitions, Business Restructuring & Turnaround Services, Total Tax Transparency & ESG Tax Strategy, Financial Institutions & Specialty Finance, Important Tax Issues When Navigating a SPAC Transaction, BDO Knows SPACs: Tax Treatment of SPAC Founders Shares, Special Purpose Acquisition Companies Resources page, Do Not Sell My Personal Information as to BDO Investigative Due Diligence, Strategic partners and management expertise; and. Special Purpose Acquisition Companies: An Introduction If the SPAC needs additional capital to pursue the business combination or pay its other expenses, the sponsor may loan additional funds to the SPAC. If the SPAC had a specific target under consideration at the time of the IPO, detailed information regarding the target IPO registration statement, potentially including the targets would be required to be included in the financial statements, thus delaying the IPO and rendering it similar in form and substance to a traditional IPO. Each unit is customarily priced at $10.00 per unit, and the warrant is usually priced out of the money, with an exercise price greater than the per unit price offered in the IPO, typically $11.50 per share. Depending on the timing of the transaction, the proxy statement or tender offer materials are required to include two or three years of audited [9] financial statements of the target business, plus unaudited interim financial statements. After the de-SPAC, the capital structure from the perspective of the target equity holders will oftentimes be similar to what it would have been had the target conducted an IPO. In a traditional IPO, the sponsor and directors and officers sign a lock-up agreement for 180 days from the pricing of the IPO. Once a SPAC has completed its IPO, the sponsor will begin its search for an operating entity to combine with the SPAC. Effectively, if the De-SPAC transaction never occurs, the public shareholders get their money back and the public warrants, founder shares and founder warrants expire without value. In a SPAC IPO, the typical discount structure is for 2% of the gross proceeds to be paid at the closing of the IPO, with another 3.5% deposited into the trust account and payable to the underwriters on closing of the De-SPAC transaction. A SPAC Primer | Kramer Levin There are three distinct phases in the life of a SPAC: SPAC formation and IPO, SPAC target search, and the SPAC merger (de-SPAC). A traditional de-SPAC transaction is structured as a reverse triangular merger for federal income tax purposes. In addition to the private placement, most sponsors contemplate making working capital loans to the SPAC, of which typically up to $1.5 million in principal amount of such loans may be converted into warrants (identical to the private placement warrants) at the closing of the de-SPAC transaction. SPAC sponsors typically own a 20 percent stake in the SPAC through founder shares in addition to warrants to purchase more shares. SPACs are founded by "sponsors," people or entities set up by people, hedge funds, or private equity groups that pick or serve on the SPAC's board of directors and bring a SPAC public through an IPO to raise money. Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) - Overview, How It Works According to reports in the financial press, the current SPAC market could not be more active. SPACs and Considerations for Accountants of Sponsors and - EisnerAmper SPONSOR FORFEITURE AGREEMENT . We do so with your approval. Of the sponsor capital, the initial underwriting fees of 2% of the SPAC and the costs of the IPO will be deducted at the closing of the IPO. On the other hand, the De-SPAC transaction involves many of the same requirements as would be applicable to an IPO of the target business, including audited financial statements and other disclosure items which may not otherwise be applicable if the target business were acquired by a public operating company. [5] In addition to the founder warrants purchased at IPO, most SPACs contemplate that an additional $1.5 million of warrants can be issued to the sponsor at the De-SPAC transaction on conversion of any loans from the sponsor to the SPAC. (go back), 10SPACs are similar to blank check companies, which the SEC describes as a development stage company that has no specific business plan or purpose or has indicated that its business plan is to engage in a merger or acquisition with an unidentified company or companies, or other entity or person[. SPAC formation and funding. Delaware Court Holds that SPAC Sponsor's "Founder Shares" Created a Registration would be on a Form S-4, and the registration statement would include a combined proxy statement-prospectus. In a traditional IPO, the issuance price is determined at the time of the IPO after a lengthy SEC review process and roadshow, and is subject to full market risk during this process. In advance of signing an acquisition agreement, the SPAC will often arrange committed debt or equity financing, such as a private investment in public equity (PIPE) commitment, to finance a portion of the purchase price for the business combination and thereafter publicly announce both the acquisition agreement and the committed financing. IPO investors focus on the track record of the sponsor, the experience of the management team and the industry in which the SPAC proposes to identify a target. 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