Corporate transportation firm Gett abandons $1 bln SPAC deal

Spectral AI

11/03/2022 14:08

March 11 (Reuters) - Corporate transportation firm Gett and
Rosecliff Acquisition Corp I  RCLF.O  have mutually terminated
their $1 billion blank-check deal due to adverse market
conditions, the companies said on Friday. 
     The decision to abandon the deal comes at a time when
volatility in the U.S. market has spiked, triggered mostly by
geopolitical tensions and rate-hike concerns.
    The deal, announced in November, was expected to generate
proceeds of about $253 million from the special-purpose
acquisition company's (SPAC) trust account and another $30
million from private placement in public equity (PIPE). 
    London-based Gett had intended to use the capital to expand
into the United States and other key global markets.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2S13NA
    Gett's cloud-based software aggregates operators of
corporate fleets, ride-hailing services, taxis and limos into
one single platform, helping businesses manage all of their
ground transportation.    
    The company also said Russia represented a minority share of
its business, accounting for less than 14% in direct gross
profit in the fourth quarter.
    Russia has called its actions in Ukraine a "special
operation."
    Gett said it was expecting to reach profitability as early
as the third quarter, a year earlier than initially planned.
    SPACs, which offer an alternate route to list shares, gained
popularity in 2020. But the sector has taken a hit, as shares of
popular companies such as Grab Holdings  GRAB.O  and BuzzFeed
 BZFD.O , which merged with SPACs, tumbled after going public.
    The SPAC market has also been dealing with higher investor
redemptions and tightening regulatory scrutiny since last year.
    SPACs are companies that are listed on exchanges but have no
business operations. They use the pool of capital raised through
an initial public offering to merge with a privately held
company, in a deal that then takes it public.

 (Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil
D'Silva)
 ((Manya.Saini@thomsonreuters.com;))