SPAC GSR Meteora edges up after deal to take Bitcoin Depot public

Bitcoin Depot

25/08/2022 13:26

** Shares of special-purpose acquisition company GSR II
Meteora Acquisition Corp  GSRM.N  up 1.4% at $10.03 premarket
after inking merger
    ** Fintech Bitcoin Depot plans to go public in deal valued
at $885 mln with GSRM  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N3012VW
    ** Combined firm to be named Bitcoin Depot Inc and trade on
the Nasdaq with ticker "BTM" following expected transaction
close in Q1 2023
    ** Deal anticipated to provide Bitcoin Depot $321 mln held
in GSRM's trust account
    ** Founded in 2016, Bitcoin Depot says it is the largest
provider of bitcoin ATMs in North America, with over 7,000
kiosks in the U.S. and Canada
    ** GSRM in March closed its $316 mln IPO, including
fully-exercised over-allotment option
    ** SPACs are publicly listed companies with no business
operations that raise funds in order to acquire a private entity
and take it public, typically within two years
    ** The market for SPACs has fizzled this year amid
confluence of surging interest rates and inflation, elevated
regulatory scrutiny, massive shareholder redemptions and
collapsing share prices
    ** Meanwhile, price of bitcoin  BTC=BTSP  has fallen ~70%
from Nov 2021 peak to current level of $21,659.0

 (Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed
are his own)
 ((lance.tupper@thomsonreuters.com
lance.tupper@tr.com 1-332-219-1430))