Asia Special Situation Acquisition Corp. completed its IPO on January 17, 2008, selling 11,500,000 units, including 1,500,000 units sold pursuant to the exercise of the over-allotment option, at $10.00 per unit. The gross proceeds totaled $115 million, in line with the amount that the company was looking to raise when it filed its initial S-1 on August 29, 2007. A total of $115,000,000, equal to $10.00 per common share, has been placed into an escrow account. This balance includes $3,450,000 deferred by the underwriters, which will be paid when the company completes an acquisition, and $5,725,000 from the sale of warrants 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 $2,000,000 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 additional share at $7.50 per share.
Warrant terms: Each warrant will become exercisable on the later of the completion of a business combination with a target business and January 16, 2009. The warrants will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on January 16, 2012, or earlier upon redemption.
Asia Special Situation Acquisition Corp. initially intends to focus its efforts on acquiring an operating business in the leisure and hospitality or financial services industries, that either invests in, is located in or provides products or services to consumers located in China.
The securities are listed on the American Stock Exchange. The units (CIO-U) cloed at $9.98 yesterday. The common shares (CIO-WT) and warrants (CIO-U) are not yet trading.
The final prospectus: sec.gov
Significant principals
Angela Ho has served as our Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors since our inception in March 2007. From 2002 to the present, Ms. Ho has managed real property portfolios, including for Dragonballz Trust and Sponge Bob Trust, which are each engaged in the business of real estate, for investors in Macau and the United States. From 1996 to 2006, Ms. Ho has also been active in managing various family businesses controlled by her father, Dr. Stanley Ho, including Jet ASIA Ltd., HoGaming.com and drho888.com, which are engaged in the business of aviation, computer software and Asian gaming operations, respectively. From 1981 to the present, Ms. Ho has also been active in several aspects of the fine art business. From 1980 to 1987, she worked as a sculptress exhibiting in a number of major galleries and museums, and was employed at Sotheby’s Fine Arts Department, New York. In 1980, she became a lead investor in the Tony Shafrazi Gallery. From 1996 to 1999, she established and managed her own gallery when she founded the Ho Gallery, a gallery of contemporary art in New York. The gallery was instrumental in pioneering the contemporary Chinese art market in New York and introducing contemporary Chinese artists to North America. In 1997, she founded the Center of Contemporary Art in Macau, a private museum dedicated to the dialogue between contemporary artists in ASIA and the West. From 1996 to 2003, Ms. Ho served as a member of the board of directors of BioSante, a pharmaceutical company listed on the American Stock Exchange. From 1996 to 2001, she managed Successway Holdings Limited, a technology venture capital fund on behalf of her father, Dr. Stanley Ho. From 1999 to 2004, she served on the board of directors of the School of American Ballet. She was educated in private academies in Hong Kong, Switzerland and London and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Boston University in 1979.
Dr. Gary T. Hirst has been our Co-Chief Executive Officer and a director since our inception. Dr. Hirst has been responsible for the development and investment management of both offshore and domestic hedge funds, including global macro funds, funds-of-funds, currency funds, and a number of structured investment products, including for principal protected notes issued by Zurich Capital Markets and Rabobank which invested in diversified global portfolios of hedge funds. From 1991 to 2006, Dr. Hirst was Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Hirst Investment Management. In his roles with Hirst Investment Management, Dr. Hirst managed over $600 million in assets on behalf of multi-national banks, pension plans, insurance companies, foundations and endowments, public companies, family offices and high net worth investors. Under his leadership, the firm established itself as a developer of innovative financial products and services, with a focus on maximizing the risk-adjusted return on its clients' investments. From 1976 to 1991, Dr. Hirst was Investment Manager for the Hirst Family Office where he managed allocation and trading for all investment portfolios of the Hirst family and its associates. These investments included traditional asset portfolios, real estate, and a range of alternate investment strategies including hedge funds, private equity, futures trading and physical commodities. From 2003 to 2005, Dr. Hirst was a director of Alpine Select A.G., a publicly traded (Swiss Exchange) investment company based in Zug, Switzerland. |
