M&A developments continue apace in the US market, with 26 Capital Acquisition Corp filing its initial IPO offering with a listing this morning on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
Trading under the ticker ‘ADERU’, 26 Capital is the new ‘special purpose acquisition company’ (SPAC) of billionaire gambling investor Jason Ader, who serves as the company’s CEO.
Debuting on the Nasdaq exchange, 26 Capital has priced its initial public offering at 24 million class-A shares valued at $10 per unit. The SPAC will look to close its $240m class-A public offering on Wednesday, January 20.
In its IPO statement, 26 Capital brands itself as a ‘blank cheque company’, which will “concentrate its efforts in identifying high-quality businesses in the gaming and gaming technology, branded consumer, lodging and entertainment, or internet commerce sectors”.
Ader is recognized as gambling’s most successful ‘activist investor’, having undertaken notable investments in bwin.party Entertainment, GVC Holdings and Playtech Plc through his New York hedge fund SpringOwl Asset Management.
His investment strategy has often clashed with corporate leadership and boards, demanding drastic changes from companies that SpringOwl has invested in.
SPAC acquisitions featured prominently in the industry’s 2020 US agenda, as LA entertainment moguls Harry Sloan and Jeff Sagansky established to acquire DraftKings.
Speaking to SBC last year, Ader stated that he was monitoring US market developments, closely assessing how incumbents were ‘recalibrating to future unknowns’ caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
