Temasek units put new spin on SPAC pass the parcel

17LIVE

03/10/2023 09:01

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are their own.)
       SINGAPORE, Oct 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Convincing
companies to list in Singapore, the tiny Asian financial hub,
has long been a tall order. Hopes that special-purpose
acquisition companies would be able to help looked ill-timed:
three listed on the city-state’s exchange in January 2022, just
as its stock market peaked and the appeal of blank-cheque firms
was waning. Now one of them has found a deal in what amounts to
an in-house pass-the-parcel transaction.
    Vertex Technology Acquisition Corp  VERT.SI  has agreed to
merge with 17LIVE in a tie-up that values the biggest
livestreaming platform in Taiwan and Japan at as much as S$925
million ($673 million). The SPAC is sponsored by Vertex Venture
Holdings, a venture-capital firm indirectly owned by Temasek. 
Companies linked to Singapore’s state investor also happen to be
among the target’s existing investors, as are funds affiliated
with Vertex, and other institutional investors. The SPAC
maintains that Temasek is not involved in the business or
operational decisions of any of these entities.
    Investment firms like Blackstone  BX.N  have offloaded
portfolio companies to SPACs in the past – just not usually to
ones they set up. Granted, Vertex Technology, the first local
SPAC, was running out of time: it has to return most of the
unused listing proceeds of roughly $150 million to investors
early next year if they choose not to extend the window for
striking a deal. Buying a company already well known to its
sponsors ought, at least, to reduce the risk of making a poor
acquisition – as well as bring a rare new face to Singapore
Exchange, whose main board has not hosted an initial public
offering since 2021. (By Anshuman Daga)
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 (Editing by Antony Currie and Katrina Hamlin)
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