Why I Love To Blog -- Reason #346 -- Spicks And SPACs -- July 13, 2020

Updates

July 31, 2020: SPACs are all the rage -- but these private-equity-like vehicles are complicated. Here's what you need to know. -- Barron's.  

SPACs have been raising money and doing deals at a never-before-seen rate in 2020. SPAC initial public offerings are outpacing traditional IPOs this year.  

Original Post

 

A week ago I had not heard of SPACs.

But then, this post.

And, now, this front page story over WSJ.com: blank-check boom gets boost from coronavirus.

Quick way to get your investment firm listed on the exchange:

Blank-check companies are essentially big pools of cash, listed on an exchange, whose sole purpose is to do an acquisition. When a blank-check company buys a target firm, the firm gets its spot on the exchange. For the target firm, it is a backdoor way of doing an initial public offering—and with the IPO market rattled by Covid-19 and wild volatility, it has become a more attractive way to go public.

On another note, that Fisker story certain has legs. Today, "Fisker seizing on EV stock surge with reverse-merger listing, Bloomberg via Yahoo!Finance:

Fisker Inc., the second battery-powered car venture founded by longtime auto designer Henrik Fisker, will merge with an Apollo Global Management-sponsored blank-check company amid a surge in electric-vehicle shares.

The boards of Fisker and Apollo-backed Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp. have unanimously approved the transaction, which is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter.

Spartan Energy shares, which soared 54% last week in anticipation of the deal, rose as much as 29% shortly after the start of regular trading Monday.

The more than $1 billion of gross proceeds generated will fully fund the development of the Fisker Ocean electric SUV, which is scheduled to start production in late 2022.

It’s pursuing a strategy similar to Nikola Corp., which is developing semi trucks powered by batteries and fuel cells and merged with a special purpose acquisition company last month.

Since its listing on June 4, shares of Nikola -- which is projecting zero revenue this year -- have surged more than 60%. Electric-car stocks are rallying as Tesla Inc. weathers the global pandemic better than feared and boosts hopes for companies trying to replicate its success.

 It will be interesting if Daimler-Benz, Freightliner, Western Star let these start-ups out-truck them.

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What A Gem

TCM this morning: Broadway Melody of 1938. Look at the list of celebrities that show up in this movie -- what a gem:

Broadway Melody of 1938 is a 1937 American musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Roy Del Ruth.

The film is essentially a backstage musical revue, featuring high-budget sets and cinematography in the MGM musical tradition.

The film stars Eleanor Powell and Robert Taylor and features Buddy Ebsen, George Murphy, Judy Garland, Sophie Tucker, Raymond Walburn, Robert Benchley and Binnie Barnes.

The film is most notable for young Garland's performance of "You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)", a tribute to Clark Gable which turned the teenage singer, who had been toiling in obscurity for a couple of years, into an overnight sensation, leading eventually to her being cast in The Wizard of Oz (1939) as Dorothy.

The only one missing? Shirley Temple. LOL:

Shirley Temple Black (April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, businesswoman, and diplomat who was Hollywood's number one box-office draw as a child actress from 1935 to 1938.

And holy mackerel: a very, very young Judy Garland singing "You Made Me Do It." This must be so incredibly difficult for some folks to watch. Incredible. I actually felt tingles go down my spine at one point in the segment, and that doesn't happen often. Watching that scene, and then thinking one year later, The Wizard of Oz. Wow. The rest is history.



You only have one life to live. If one wants to spend it protesting, virtual signaling, and spending one's time in court, that's fine with me, but that seems a sad way to spend one's lifetime. Life is short.