On the marginal deals, every time that the blank check company managers have stepped up and either purchased additional shares or adjusted the number of their original shares, the transaction has been approved. However, this has not necessarily guaranteed success for the shares after the deals have closed. The fact that Wozniak, Amelio, and Hancock agreed to return 1,873,738 of their Acquicor founder shares prior to the shareholder vote on the acquisition of Jazz Semiconductor probably sealed the deal, yet the the share price of JAZ has since declined substantially. I never particularly liked that deal. Jazz had already filed a registration statement and nobody seemed too excited. You would have to think that the pedigree of the Acquicor management team would have attracted a fairly imaginative deal flow. IMHO, they were lazy.
Coming attractions:
About two weeks ago, I spent more than a few hours accumulating the closing Nasdaq prices on the dates for each of the blank check IPOs. I then calculated the return on the units for each blank check IPO from its IPO date and compared that performance to the percentage change for the Nasdaq index over the same period. As a group, the blank check companies that have either closed on a deal, or have a deal waiting approval, have handily beat the Nasdaq index. I am going to update my spreadsheets over the weekend and post the results. Of course, the real test will be whether or not these companies outperform the index over the long-term or in a serious bear market. |
