Novo Tellus targets $111m Singapore SPAC

It follows filings by Vertex Technology Acquisition Corporation, an entity controlled by Temasek Holdings-owned Vertex Venture Holdings, and Pegasus Asia, which is supported by Tikehau Capital and Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH. Singapore launched its SPAC regime, offering an alternative to the US route, at the end of last year. Hong Kong has since followed suit.

Novo Tellus closed its second fund on USD 250m in December 2020. That SPAC sponsor is a portfolio company of that fund. Target businesses will be based in the Indo-Pacific region, and harness technology disruption and digitisation, as well as opportunities arising from a need to rebalance supply chains in light of US-China decoupling.

Prevalent themes include the roles played by semiconductors, software, manufacturing services, engineering, and digital products and services in powering global technology, and the shift towards 5G, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, industry 4.0, and the internet-of-things.

Novo Tellus Alpha Acquisition wants to raise SGD 150m (USD 111m) through the sale of 30m units at SGD 5.00 apiece. The offering comprises an institutional placement of 9.5m units, a public tranche of 500,000 units, and commitments from cornerstone investors and the sponsor to buy 16m units and 4m units, respectively.

The 13 cornerstone investors are Affin Hwang Asset Management, Venezio Investments, Asdew Acquisitions, DBS Bank in Hong Kong and Singapore, Fortress Capital, Gerald Oh, Heritas Capital Management, Maxi-Harvest Group, Ronald Ooi, Target Asset Management, and UBS Asset Management. Several of these are also cornerstone investors for the Vertex SPAC.

Each unit comprises one ordinary share, one half of one warrant. Each warrant converts into one share at a price of SGD 5.75 per share, according to the prospectus. On completion of a merger, investors can exercise their warrants and purchase shares or redeem their shares for cash. If no deal is agreed within 24 months of the offering, investors get their money back.

Meanwhile, the sponsor has agreed to pay SGD 7m for 14m warrants – potentially rising to 18m – each of which will convert into one share at SGD5.75 per share. The sponsor has also received 7.5m founder shares for a nominal sum.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Technology
• Industrials
• IPO
• Singapore
• Novo Tellus Capital Partners
• SPAC