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Techdirt: Woz Raises $150 Million For, Well, Nobody Knows by dmv at 4:16 pm EST, Mar 16, 2006 |
Looking to capitalize on the Apple halo effect, three former company executives, including co-founder Steve Wozniak, took their new company, Acquicor Technology, public yesterday in an IPO raising $150 million. The money they raised is purely based on their reputation, as Acquicor Technology, is officially designated as a "blank-check" company (no, really, it's in their filings), meaning they don't do anything yet and can do whatever they want with investor money. Wozniak seems to have a knack for using his name to raise money before having an established operation
Woz starts a SPAC. We'll have to see who they buy, $150M is a pretty significant and specific SPAC value. |
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RE: Techdirt: Woz Raises $150 Million For, Well, Nobody Knows by noteworthy at 5:57 pm EST, Mar 16, 2006 |
(dmv, you can ignore this reply) Woz starts a SPAC. We'll have to see who they buy, $150M is a pretty significant and specific SPAC value.
I didn't recognize the term "SPAC", so for the benefit of others reading this thread, I looked it up. (Clicking through, there are also references in the comments on Techdirt.) A SPAC, or specified purpose acquisition company, is an asset-free company that lists on the public market with the intention of using the money raised in the IPO to invest in or acquire companies operating in a specified industry. Specified Purpose Acquisition Companies, also known as SPACs, have recently taken the securities world by storm as the latest vehicle to launch small but promising private companies into the public sector via initial public offerings or “IPOs.” Due in part to the protection provided investors and the increased interest in hedge funds, SPACs are increasingly becoming the structure of choice for investors in making public offerings. A SPAC is a blank check company, or newly-formed company without any business operations, formed for the purpose of implementing a merger, asset acquisition or similar business combination. This structure provides the target company with immediate capital raised through an IPO, an advantage over the more typical reverse merger transaction. Shells, SPACs, Reverse Acquisitions and Reverse or "Backdoor" IPOs: As the search for equity capital for development- stage entities intensifies, so the collective imagination of managers and financial intermediaries swells to meet the challenge. One of the newer and occasionally popular techniques for raising money is the so-called shell game. The trick is to organize a shell corporation-no assets, no business-and take it public. Because of the unfortunate connotations of the term "shell" in the financial arena, sponsors have developed a more glamorous and respectable label-Specified Purpose Acquisition Companies, or SPACs. The sole purpose of a Shell/SPAC offering is to raise a relatively modest amount of money and, more importantly, to get a number of shares outstanding in the hands of the public.
[1],[2],[3] |
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RE: Techdirt: Woz Raises $150 Million For, Well, Nobody Knows by dmv at 11:44 am EST, Mar 17, 2006 |
noteworthy wrote: (dmv, you can ignore this reply)
Thanks for the followup. I should have provided more illumination... I sometimes forget that the audience probably doesn't read the same finance sources I do with the same regularity. |
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