Cohn Robbins Holdings today in an 8-K filing announced redemptions erased 91% of its cash in trust earlier this month.
Shareholders on Sept. 7 approved the SPAC’s proposed business combination with Allwyn Entertainment AG, a multinational lottery operator — and gave Cohn Robbins until Dec. 11 to close the deal. However, as revealed today, in connection with the merger vote shareholders elected to redeem an aggregate of 75,339,749 Class A ordinary shares. That would leave approximately $75 million in trust.
The merger has an $850 million minimum cash condition. Even with a backstop, PIPE financing and the remaining cash in trust, the SPAC’s available funds are still about $165 million short of the minimum needed to seal the deal. Cohn Robbins has not disclosed how it plans to cover the cash condition by its new December deadline.
Prior to the merger vote, Cohn Robbins had announced that investors who do not redeem their stock would share in a bonus pool of up to 6.6 million additional shares of the combined company.
The SPAC also said it has secured a $260 million backstop against redemptions. PPF Group, which currently owns approximately 4 million Cohn Robbins shares, agreed to buy another 26 million shares for the backstop. A $350 million PIPE is also in place to support the deal.
One of the SPAC’s founders, Gary Cohn, is a former economic advisor to Donald Trump. Read more.
