The Singapore stock market is marking a milestone with the launch of the first two spac listings on Jan 13.
Vertex Technology Acquisition Corporation was the first spac to launch. Backed by Temasek Holding's subsidiary Vertex Ventures, VTAC aims to raise some $200 million, with a possible over-allotment of another $11.8 million.
Pegasus Asia, a spac backed by Tikehau Capital and several other partners, launched later in the day, with a goal to raise some $128 million by offering 25.6 million units at $5 each. The sponsors will invest another $30 million or so into the spac.
Novo Tellus Alpha Acquisition, a spac backed by Novo Tellus, filed its preliminary prospectus on the same day. It plans to raise a total of $150 million.
see also: Novo Tellus Alpha Acquisition files draft prospectus for $150 million spac
VTAC is offering a total of 11.8 million units for investors to subscribe, with the bulk of it, or 11.2 million units in the placement tranche for institutional investors with the remaining 0.6 million set aside for retail subscription.
See also: Hong Kong's first de-spac listing still leaves sector in limbo
Each unit comprises one ordinary share and 0.3 of one warrant per share, which will be issued at the completion of this offering.
In addition, there are 13 cornerstone investors who have collectively invested 22.2 million units, or $111 million, which make up 55.5% of the post offering share capital.
Two of these cornerstone investors are Temasek Holding’s subsidiaries Venezio Investments and Fullerton Fund Management. They will hold 15.0% and 6.5% respectively in VTAC, assuming the over-allotment option is not exercised.
See also: Singapore-based Synagistics begins trading as Hong Kong’s first de-spac
VTAC plans to acquire a target company that has the following traits: “technology-driven; fast-growing and scalable; at an inflection point of their growth journey; having strong management teams; having cross-border potential with market leadership; and attractively priced relative to its peers, which would provide upside potential and benefit from public market access.”
Vertex Ventures, the sponsor of VTAC, claims “deep domain expertise” in the fields of cyber security and enterprise solutions; artificial intelligence; consumer internet and technologies; financial technologies; autonomous driving and new-energy vehicles; and biomedical technologies and digital healthcare.
This IPO’s joint issue managers are Credit Suisse (Singapore) and DBS Bank. Credit Suisse, DBS Bank and Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) are the joint global coordinators, joint bookrunners and joint underwriters.
"Having brought the first REIT to list in Singapore 20 years ago, and seeing the sector mature and develop into one of the region’s leading international REIT hubs today, we look forward to achieving the same, or even greater success for SPACs 20 years from now," says Eng-Kwok Seat Moey, group head of capital markets, DBS Bank.
VTAC's offer opens at 8pm today (Jan 13) and will close at noon on Jan 18. Trading is expected to start at 2pm on Jan 20.
Pegasus Asia's offer will close a day later at noon of Jan 19. Trading is scheduled to start at 9am on Jan 21.
