The market has absorbed the first billion dollar blank check IPO.
Liberty Acquisition Holdings Corp. completed its IPO on December 7, 2007, selling 103,500,000 units, including 13,500,000 units sold through the exercise of the over-allotment option, at $10.00 per unit. The gross proceeds totaled $1,035,000,000, up substantially from the $750 million that the company was looking to raise when it filed its initial S-1 on August 19, 2007. A total of $1,016,700,000, equal to $9.82 per common share, has been placed into an escrow account. This balance includes $27,430,000 deferred by the underwriters, which will be paid when the company completes an acquisition, and $12,000,000 from the sale of warrants and units to certain of the insiders. In the event that the company is liquidated, neither the underwriter nor the insiders will receive any of the funds placed into the escrow account.
Up to $10.35 million of interest earned on the trust fund balance can be used to fund expenses related to investigating and selecting a target business and other working capital requirements.
Each unit consists of one share of common stock and a warrant to purchase one-half additional share at $5.50 per share.
Warrant terms: Each warrant will become exercisable on the later of the completion of a business combination with a target business and December 12, 2008. The warrants will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on December 12, 2013, or earlier upon redemption.
Liberty Acquisition Holdings Corp. is not going to be focusing its acquisition efforts on any particular sector.
The securities are listed on the American Stock Exchange. The units (LIA-U) closed at $10.01 today. The common shares (LIA) and warrants (LIA-WT) are not yet trading.
The final prospectus: sec.gov |
