DNA News

After last year’s SPAC boom, 2022 has started off as a bust. Of the 199 companies that went public via SPAC merger in 2021, only 11% trade above the offer price, and the group averages a -43% return. Completed SPAC mergers (de-SPACs) have performed worse than traditional IPOs, even after a recent sell-off in the IPO market. As of March 2022, de-SPACs have generally...read more

After a slowdown in SPAC merger announcements since February, the SPAC market picked back up this past week with 8 companies announcing acquisitions. Synthetic biotech Ginkgo Bioworks (GKBW.RC) headlined the announcements with its merger with Soaring Eagle Acquisition (SRNG) at a $17.8 billion pro-forma equity value. This...read more

2021 is shaping up to be the “Year of the SPAC.” So far this year, 176 SPACs have raised $49.5 billion, a huge leap from the 10 that raised $2.6 billion by this time last year. SPACs are outpacing traditional IPOs at a rate of three-to-one, and averaging 3.1 deals per day. At that rate, blank check IPOs would surpass 2020’s total by the end of the 1Q, and...read more

Soaring Eagle Acquisition (formerly Spinning Eagle Acquisition), the seventh blank check company formed by SPAC veteran Jeff Sagansky and former MGM CEO Harry Sloan, raised $1.5 billion by offering 150 million units at $10. Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one-fifth of a warrant, exercisable at $11.50. The company is led by ...read more