Another Special Purpose Acquisition Company or SPAC has hit the boards of Nasdaq, this time headed by a familiar betting and gaming investor.
The 26 Capital Acquisition Corp is led by long-time gaming and betting sector activist investor Jason Ader.
It hopes to zero in on potential opportunities among companies working in gaming and betting technology sector or in the wider leisure and online space.
The blank check company hopes to raise $240m from investors. The share offer began last Friday and will conclude this Wednesday.
Ader has a track record in gambling stocks. As the head of Spring Owl, he made his name through high-profile investments in bwin, then GVC and more latterly Playtech.
As part of his pitch as an activist, Ader normally lobbies for more M&A.
Join the queue
There are a number of SPACs that have designs on the gaming and betting space.
They include Tekkorp which is headed up by Matt Davey, a long-standing gaming executive previously with SG Gaming, and Accies.
The latter is another SPAC headed by gaming industry notables including ex-MGM CEO Jim Murren and Chris Grove.
News is yet to emerge of any deals involving either of these two vehicles. Tekkorp raised $250m in November.
Davey said at the time it was targeting companies that “we believe would benefit significantly from being publicly-traded.”
A further entry into the filed came in early January when famed investor Ken Moelis launched Atlas Crest Investment II.
That one is also designed to target high-growth sectors. Among the target areas are online gaming and betting.
It said it was not involved in “substantive discussions” at present.
More Nuggets
One recent SPAC deal that also come to fruition in the past week is the merger of the dMY Technology II SPAC and Genius Sports Group.
That is likely to be finalized this month with the company joining the NYSE.
Wedge News has written previously of how the use of SPACs is gaining adherents in the gaming space.
Among those to have taken the special vehicle route are DraftKings, Golden Nugget Online Gaming and must recently Rush Street Interactive.
dMY Technology was also involved in the RSI deal.
More SPACs are set to follow – rumors in the press suggest that Tilman Fertitta, having already chalked up one SPAC with GNOG, is likely to seek the same route for other elements of his business.
This would include the Golden Nugget Casino property in New Jersey.
Bloomberg said the deal would come via a vehicle called Fast Acquisition Corp.
