Alex Rodriguez’ SPAC, called SLAM, is being delisted ahead of its merger with Lynk for failure to complete the combination within the required timeframe
Baseball player and entrepreneur Alex Rodriguez’s special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), called Slam, is being de-listed from trading on the Nasdaq exchange today, due to failure to complete its pending combination with satellite-to-cellular company Lynk within the required timeframe.
Lynk and Slam said in a joint release that the merger of the two companies “will be materially unaffected by the transition.” Slam’s shares are now trading on OTC Markets.
SPACs are formed solely for the purpose of merging with another company to take it public. According to Nasdaq rules, a SPAC must complete one or more business combinations within three years of its IPO in order to stay in good standing with the exchange.
According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in April of this year, Slam received an extension of its deadline until August 26, due to the progress it had made toward merging with Lynk. However, because the two businesses had yet to complete their combination by the end of the extension, Nasdaq has de-listed Slam’s stock.
“Notwithstanding the delisting of Slam’s securities from Nasdaq, it remains the intention of Slam to continue to pursue the previously disclosed proposed business combination with Lynk, as well as the listing of Lynk on Nasdaq,” Slam indicated in its filing.
Ryan Bright, CFO of Slam, said in a statement: “Slam and Lynk remain committed to the de-SPAC transaction and have extended the termination date of the Business Combination until December 25, 2024. Upon the closing of the transaction, the merged company is expected to list on Nasdaq under the symbol ‘LYNK’ and its warrants under the symbol ‘LYNKW’. This expected transition from the Nasdaq to the OTC Market is a procedural measure due to a timing requirement from the exchange. We look forward to seeing the company trading on the Nasdaq once again at the close of the transaction.”
The two companies had signaled their intention to combine in December of last year, as Lynk’s path to being a public company.
Lynk has said that it has signed 35 commercial contracts to provide coverage in approximately 50 countries, and supported Canada’s first satellite-to-mobile phone call in a trial with Rogers, which tested SMS, data and emergency alerting services with a Samsung S22 smartphone in December 2023.
In the release about the de-listing, Lynk said that since its announced plan to combine with Slam in February 2024, it “has signed numerous commercial contracts with global mobile network operators as well as a commercial contract to provide sat2phone services to … U.S. government agencies.”
In April of this year, Lynk signed a five-year contract with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to enable U.S federal agencies to purchase its services for unmodified smartphones over the next five years. The U.S. government, including the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies which use satellite services, purchases them through DISA. Lynk’s DISA contract covers an initial period of five years, with another five-year extension possible.
Lynk services available under the contract included text messaging, emergency cell broadcast alerts and weather and information broadcast services through Lynk’s LynkCast service.
