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Collin Furtado · · 1 min readTraveloka reportedly stops talks with Richard Li-backed SPAC for US listing
“Indonesia’s Traveloka has halted talks to go public through a deal with Bridgetown Holdings Ltd., a blank check-company backed by billionaires Richard Li and Peter Thiel,” reported Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.
Details:
- Traveloka’s board of directors have decided to drop merger talks with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Bridgetown Holdings as interest in the SPAC market has declined, said the sources.
- Instead, the travel company will look at doing things the traditional way for its US listing: an initial public offering. It may also resume talks with Bridgetown or another SPAC once the market recovers.
Dive deeper:
- The maket for SPACs, which globally raised US$131 billion out of the US$461 billion through IPOs this year, has slowed recently. This comes after the US Securities and Exchange Commission stepped up its scrutiny due to a sudden surge in fundraising via blank-check firms.
- In August, it was reported that Traveloka was in talks to raise as much as US$400 million through a private investment in public equity (PIPE) deal from the SPAC merger with Bridgetown.
Editing by Eileen C. Ang
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