Two of investor Bill Foley’s SPACs, Austerlitz Acquisition I and Austerlitz Acquisition II announced plans to liquidate.
“Since the company’s IPO, the sponsors reviewed hundreds of potential merger partners and have had substantive negotiations with dozens of them, ” Austerlitz I said in a statement. “Despite these extensive efforts, the sponsors have not secured and do not seek a merger partner. Some prospective partners did not meet the sponsors’ investment criteria, and some pursued other strategic options like an IPO or full or partial sale. Some eventually declined to merge with AUS due to poor stock price performance in the SPAC and IPO markets.”
Austerlitz I holds $690 million in trust from a March 2021 IPO and expects to return $10 per share to stockholders. The SPAC had planned to target a fintech or a business information and business services. Austerlitz I terminated a deal with Wynn Interactive in November 2021.
Austerlitz II made a similar statement regarding its acquisition efforts in a separate press release. The SPAC holds about $1.38 billion in trust and will distribute $10 per share to investors.
Austerlitz II had planned to target the same sectors as its sister SPAC.
