Thursday June 23, 2022 20:00 (Hong Kong Time)
Firms in new industries such as those providing innovative green energy solutions might face challenges in raising public capital through traditional means like IPOs. They might have too few similar comparable firms, little international analyst following, and investor familiarity with the potential of solutions that they provide. In such cases, would de-SPACs that have been growing in popularity in recent years have some advantage over the IPOs?
On September 16, 2021, Poema Global Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: PPGH) announced it entered into a definitive merger agreement with Gogoro Inc., a Taiwan-based company, that developed the "swap & go" battery-swapping refueling platform that allowed refueling electrical vehicles (e.g. two-wheelers such as scooters and motorcycles) in seconds.
In this sample lecture, we will use a case study of Poema Global and explore the reasons behind the rise in SPACs by juxtaposing them against the traditional IPOs. By looking at the SPAC structures from the perspectives of different players in the deal (sponsors, target firms, outside investors), we will go through a simple valuation exercise and cover potential benefits and downsides involved in de-SPAC transactions. The lecture will follow an interactive format and the participants will be invited to share their opinions. Time permitting, we will also discuss other recent trends in public capital markets such as relistings of stocks from the US exchanges to Asia.
There will be an introduction of MSGF program at the beginning of the seminar. RSVP NOW!
Speaker:
Professor Alminas Žaldokas is currently Associate Professor of Finance at HKUST Business School. He received his Bachelor of Science from the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Master of Science in Finance and Economics from the London School of Economics, and the Ph.D. in Finance from INSEAD (France). He previously taught MBA and Evening MBA students as the Visiting Assistant Professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas in Austin.
Professor Žaldokas’s research papers have been published in the leading academic journals such as the Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Management Science, Journal of Accounting Research, RAND Journal of Economics, Journal of International Economics, and Journal of Financial Intermediation. His research focuses on the interaction between firm decisions in the financial and in the product markets. In particular, he studies corporate finance decisions that relate to the firm investment in innovation and the formation of collusive arrangements between firms.
Professor Žaldokas’s recent work has looked at how higher corporate taxes affect firm investment into innovative activities, and how firm financial disclosure such as conference calls with equity analysts might aid price-fixing in product markets. This research has contributed to the policy evaluation and has been recognized by the practitioners. Professor Žaldokas has presented his research work in the conferences organized by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Brookings Institution, and it has been summarized in the policy brief by CATO Institute. His work on international antitrust laws and M&A transactions was awarded Jerry S. Cohen Award for Antitrust Scholarship for the best antitrust work in 2019.