ListingTrack Recap (Labor Day Edition)

Covering IPO & other listing action, public M&A updates, and more.

Author

Nick G.
September 02, 2024

Good evening and Happy Labor Day!

If you missed last week’s email, we’re back after a several-month hiatus to bring you the ListingTrack Recap, our free weekly newsletter that covers the public listing event action, including IPO and pre-IPO activity, public M&A updates, and other major corporate actions and special situations.

If you haven’t subscribed to receive this weekly recap, you can join our 7,800+ subscribers here!

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Of course, as with SPAC Track, much of the content will be completely free— we aim to make quality event-driven stock market data accessible to all. Our Pro subscribers receive access to more comprehensive data and premium features. We are currently offering introductory pricing of 25% off of our annual plans with the promo code LTINTRO25. Sign up for a Free or Pro account below:

Now, let’s get into the recap!

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 IPO & Other Listings

IPO Pricings

  • JBDI Holdings ($JBDI), a Singapore-based provider of drums and related shipping containers, priced its $11.25M IPO. — PR

  • Autozi Internet Technology ($AZI), a Chinese automotive products and services company, priced its $10M IPO. — PR

  • Safe Pro Group ($SPAI), a company using drone imagery for landmine clearing, priced its $5.1M IPO. — PR

  • Black Spade II ($BSII-U) priced its $150M SPAC IPO. The sponsor’s previous SPAC brought VinFast ($VFS) public. — PR

  • GigCapital7 ($GIGG-U), a SPAC led by serial sponsor Avi Katz, raised $200M in its IPO. GigCapital5, the latest SPAC in the series to close a merger, combined with QT Imaging ($QTI).

Other New Listings

  • Oruka Therapeutics ($ORKA) is set to start trading on Nasdaq on Tuesday after completing its reverse merger with ARCA biopharma (Fmr: ABIO). — PR

  • CURRENC Group ($CURR) (previously Seamless Group) closed its SPAC merger with InFinT (IFIN) and will trade on Nasdaq starting Tuesday. — PR

Head to ListingTrack.io to see all of the Latest IPOs and Latest Listings

Post-IPO Coverage and IPO Market Commentary

  • The IPO Hopeful’s Dilemma: Cram Into Fall Window or Wait for ’25 — Bloomberg

See the Top Performers from Listings 2019-

IPO Rumors and Plans

  • Business Insider reports that ServiceTitan executives are waiting until after the presidential election to go public. This would put the potential IPO in 2025, considering the holiday season. — Business Insider

Updates from the Pipeline

IPOs

  • Bill Ackman is considering sweeteners to revive the IPO of Pershing Square USA (PSUS), Ackman’s closed-end fund, which withdrew its offering a few weeks ago. Potential options include warrant coverage and rights to buy into the planned IPO of Ackman’s hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management. — FT / Money Stuff

Other Listings (Spinoff Listings, Reverse Mergers, etc.)

  • South Bow Corporation (Exp: SOBO), the liquids pipelines business of TC Energy ($TRP), closed a C$7.9 billion notes offering in connection with its spinoff from TRP. The spinoff transaction is expected to close in Q4 of this year. — PR

New Filings

  • Ceribell (CBLL), an RA Capital-backed maker of seizure-detecting devices, filed for an IPO that could raise as much as $100M. — S-1

  • Other filings from last week: HTL Capital (NCG), Park Ha Biological ($PHH), RIbbon Acquisition (SPAC- RIBB), MingShing Group (MSW), Health In Tech (HIT), Ruanyun Edai Technology (RYET)

Latest IPO Filings list

 IPO Candidate News

  • Klarna Profit Soars as Fintech Preps for Potential IPO Next Year — Bloomberg

  • Smithfield Foods, a pork producer and subsidiary of WH Group, announced it carved out its European business. Smithfield is rumored to IPO this year. — PR

  • Headway, a mental healthcare company backed by Andreessen Horowitz, announced it hired a CISO— a move that could signal a possible IPO is in the cards. The company raised its Series D last month. — PR

  • OpenAI is in talks with potential investors, including Apple and NVIDIA, to raise several billion dollars in a new funding round led by Thrive Capital, which would value the startup behind ChatGPT above $100 billion. — WSJ

  • The FT reported that Telegram lost $108M on $342M of revenue in 2023 with 40% of the revenue coming from crypto services. — FT

Equity Raises

Prominent Startups, Series D+, and Private Equity Rounds:

  • HomeLight, a residential real estate services platform, raised $20M in a Series D extension from investors, including Menlo Ventures. — PR

  • Crible, a data management company for security and IT, raised $319M in its Series E round led by Google Ventures at a $3.5 billion valuation. — PR / TC

  • Wayve, a developer of AI for autonomous driving, announced a strategic investment from Uber ($UBER) as an extension to its Series C. — PR / TC

  • Magic, a startup building AI to automate software development, raised $320M from investors, including Sequoia Capital, Alphabet, Atlassian, Eric Schmidt, and Jane Street. — PR / TC

Public M&A Activity

Deal Announcements

  • ARC Document Solutions ($ARC) announced it will be taken private for $3.40 per share in cash by the company’s management. TechPrint Holdings, an affiliate of the management buyout group, will acquire ARC. — PR

  • First Busey ($BUSE) will acquire CrossFirst Bankshares ($CFB) in an all-stock deal. CFB shareholders will receive 0.6675 shares of BUSE stock per CFB share. BUSE holders will own 63.5% of the combined company. — PR

Closings

  • The take-private acquisition of MariaDB (MRDB) for $0.55 per share by K1 Investment Management closed.

Public M&A News

Talks / Rumors and Other Potential Deals

  • Dell Technologies is exploring a sale of SecureWorks ($SCWX) and has hired Morgan Stanley and Piper Sandler to gauge takeover interest from potential acquirers, which include private equity firms. — Reuters

  • Elevance Health ($ELV), one of the firms reported to be in talks to acquire Evolent Health ($EVH), has dropped out of the process, leaving TPG, CD&R, and KKR among the remaining suitors. — Reuters

  • Brookfield Asset Management ($BAM) is in talks with several investment funds, including sovereigns Abu Dhabi (ADQ) and Singapore (GIC), to join its bid to acquire Spanish blood-plasma company Grifols ($GRFS) — Bloomberg

Deal Coverage and Updates

  • Kroger ($KR) & Albertsons ($ACI) merger coverage:

    • Monday: The FTC argued in federal court on Monday that Kroger's $25 billion merger with rival grocer Albertsons is bad for shoppers in a case that highlights growing alarm over surging grocery prices. — Reuters

    • Tuesday: Kroger hiked prices on milk and eggs more than needed to account for inflation, the company’s top pricing executive testified during a court hearing on the US government’s bid to block the merger. — Bloomberg

  • Paramount ($PARA) & Skydance Media

    • Edgar Bronfman Drops Bid for Paramount ($PARA), Paving Way for Skydance Deal — WSJ

    • Paramount ($PARA) is exploring the sale of 12 local TV channels that could sell for $500M-$1B as the company moves ahead with asset disposals to raise cash. — Bloomberg

  • Nippon Steel & U.S. Steel ($X)

    • Nippon Steel, the Japanese company with plans to take over U.S. Steel ($X), has pledged to invest $1 billion into the company's Mon Valley Works operation. — CBS Pittsburgh / PR

    • Kamala Harris Calls for U.S. Steel to Remain American Owned — WSJ

  • United Airlines raises concerns regarding the Alaska Air ($ALK) and Hawaiian ($HA) merger with the DOT. — Bloomberg

  • Marathon Oil ($MRO) shareholders vote in favor of $16 billion ConocoPhillips ($COP) deal — Reuters

  • Capital One ($COF) slams 'speculative' consumer lawsuit over $35 billion Discover ($DFS) deal — Reuters

Other M&A / Private Equity News

  • NFL owners vote in favor of allowing select private equity firms, including Blackstone, Carlyle, CVC, and Ares, to invest up to 10% of a team’s ownership. The select firms have committed $12 billion. — CNBC

Activism & Shorts

  • Hindenburg Research published a short report on Super Micro Computer ($SMCI) titled: ‘Super Micro: Fresh Evidence Of Accounting Manipulation, Sibling Self-Dealing And Sanctions Evasion At This AI High Flyer’. — Hindenburg report / Bloomberg

  • Kerrisdale Capital published a short report targeting Lumen Technologies ($LUMN) titled: ‘AI-N’t Gonna Fix This Mess’. — Kerrisdale report

  • Hindenburg Research published a 2nd short report this week on iLearningEngines ($AILE), a learning automation company, that went public via SPAC in April, titled ‘iLearningEngines: An Artificial Intelligence SPAC With Artificial Partners And Artificial Revenue’ — Hindenburg

  • Elliott Investment Management issued an open letter to its fellow Southwest ($LUV) shareholders reiterating its assertion that Southwest’s leadership, specifically the Chairman and the CEO, have been inadequate and urged shareholders to support its plan to nominate 10 independent directors to the Board. — PR

  • Riverstyx Capital Management, an investor in Charles & Colvard ($CTHR), reported that it believes the company is undervalued and intends to engage with the Board to pursue steps to unlock the value. Riverstyx will nominate 3 candidates to the Board. — SF

Spin-offs and Other Special Sits

  • Intel ($INTC) is considering various options, including a potential separation or sale of Intel’s foundry division, which is aimed at manufacturing chips for outside customers. — Bloomberg

  • Lions Gate ($LGF) Sued by Pension Fund Seeking to Block Starz Split — Bloomberg

Bankruptcies/ Delistings

  • Big Lots ($BIG) is considering filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy within weeks due to sales slump — Bloomberg

  • SunPower Corp. ($SPWRQ), which filed for Chapter 11 early last month, received approval to sell its assets to rival Complete Solaria ($CSLR) for $45M, pending any higher offers. — Bloomberg

  • Ebix (EBIXQ), which filed Chapter 11 for its US business, was delisted from OTC as its shares were canceled following a sale of the company’s global business to Eraaya Lifespaces.

  • BowFlex (BFXXQ) was delisted from OTC and its shares are now canceled after it effected its bankruptcy plan, which included selling the company to Johnson Health Tech. BowFlex filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in March.

  • The shares of Taronis Fuels (TRNFQ), an industrial gas distributor, were delisted from OTC and canceled as the bankruptcy plan was effected.

  • Nuvo Group (NUVO —> $NUVOQ) was delisted from Nasdaq and began trading OTC under the new symbol NUVOQ after filing for Chapter 11 last week.

  • Talis Biomedical ($TLIS) was delisted from Nasdaq following its disclosure that it suspended all R&D activities ahead of an anticipated Chapter 11 filing.

  • DermTech ($DMTKQ) closed the sale of its assets to DERM-JES Holdings after filing for Chapter 11 in June. The shares are expected to be delisted from OTC and canceled worthless. — PR

List of Delistings & Downlistings (IPOs 2020-)

SPAC Activity

New Deals

  • Agriculture & Natural Solutions ($ANSC) announced a merger with Australian Food & Agriculture Company, an Australian farmland and diversified agriculture business that is 1/3 owned by Ray Dalio, in a deal that values the company at $510M. — PR / IP

  • Concord Acquisition Corp II ($CNDA) announced it will merge with event management platform Events.com at a pre-money equity value of $314M. — PR / IP

  • Cactus Acquisition Corp. 1 ($CCTS) will merge with electric utility vehicle maker Tembo E-LV, a subsidiary of VivoPower International PLC ($VVPR). The deal values Tembo at a $904M pro-forma enterprise value, compared to VivoPower’s (its parent co) market cap of $9.3M. — PR

  • Mountain Crest V ($MCAG) announced its business combination with South Korean cancer diagnostics company CUBEBIO at a $375M pre-money equity value. — PR

  • PowerUp ($PWUP) reported that it entered into a business combination agreement with Puerto Rican early-stage biopharma company Aspire Biopharma in a deal that values the company at $317M. — SF

Deal Updates

  • Atlantic Coastal II ($ACAB) entered into PIPE subscription agreements with Abpro Bio and Celltrion in connection with its merger with Abpro Corporation. — SF

  • 99 Acquisition Group ($NNAG) & Nava Health MD reported the BC with Nava Health MD was terminated by Nava. — SF

  • TortoiseEcofin III ($TRTLF) & One Energy agreed to a mutual release after TRTLF contested One Energy’s unilateral termination. — SF

Check out The Weekly SPAC Review newsletter for a more robust summary of the SPAC activity.

See the SPAC Hub on ListingTrack.io. If you are interested in more SPAC content, ListingTrack Pro users get access to our daily SPAC update newsletter.

Introducing ListingTrack.io

Our new platform, ListingTrack.io, is now live! It is a follow-up to our former site, SPAC Track. ListingTrack features a radically improved user experience and access to a significantly broader dataset covering public listing events, including IPOs, SPACs, Spinoffs, and pre-IPO companies. There is also much more coverage in the pipeline, including Public M&A.

Here's a quick rundown of the site's coverage: Our Listing Hub covers all initial public listings (IPOs, Spinoffs, de-SPACs, and more) and delistings. The IPO Hub drills into IPOs and is the hub for our pre-IPO coverage. The SPAC Hub is the new and improved home for SPAC Track’s SPAC and De-SPAC data. More data coverage is in the pipeline, with the Public M&A Hub coming soon.

We plan to constantly ship new updates to ListingTrack and will highlight our frequent website updates in this section of the newsletter going forward.

Thanks for reading,

The team at ListingTrack

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Market Data and Coverage: All market data presented is based on the stock prices at the close of the previous trading day. We cover the US market only at this time.
Abbreviations: PR: Press Release, SF: Company SEC filing, IP: Investor Presentation,

DISCLAIMER: The information provided in this newsletter is for your convenience only and is not intended to be treated as financial, investment, tax, or other advice. ListingTrack and its parent, CommonFi, do not make any guarantees, representations, or warranties as to, and shall have no liability for, the timeliness, truthfulness, sequence, quality, completeness, or accuracy of any of the information or data provided in this newsletter or on the ListingTrack website.