As Alison Frankel at Reuters observed, of the 60+ lawsuits filed in New York state court in the first half of this year against SPAC directors for inadequate disclosures, most of them typically settled after the initial complaint was filed, without advancing their claims that the SPAC boards violated their duty of disclosure by
Given the unprecedented surge in SPAC activity in the first half of 2021, SEC Acting Director John Coates has expressed concerned about risks ranging from fees, conflicts and sponsor compensation, to the sheer amount of capital pouring into the SPAC market. Naturally, with this surge has come “unprecedented scrutiny,” and the SEC has been focusing
Welcome to our blog’s new SPAC Corner, as we kick-off an ongoing series of posts dedicated to this bourgeoning field of investor litigation.
A natural starting point for our focus on SPACs is to highlight the upcoming September 9 meeting of the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee (IAC), at which the IAC will be discussing two
A data-rich thought piece by New Cannabis Ventures makes an interesting case for using a sum-of-the-parts analysis in valuing cannabis companies with diverse operating segments, as that helps filter out any boosted value that might be otherwise be included by a simple EBITDA analysis that inflates the overall valuation by including non-cannabis operating segments. The
Los Angeles Venture Association (LAVA) recently hosted a webinar discussing the recent uptick of merger and acquisition activity over the last six months, and the trends that will impact the future of the market.
Two reasons for the uptick in cannabis industry investments are confidence in the economy and elections which helped legalize cannabis. Momentum
This newest piece from Law.com [$$] analyzes the most recent appraisal decision from the Delaware Chancery Court, Regal Entertainment Group, in which the court awarded stockholders a 2.6% premium to merger price. The valuation determination followed from the court’s pegging Regal’s fair value to merger price less synergies, while adding back the increase in
Global X, an ETF provider, provided this thorough but succinct survey highlighting the progress toward cannabis legalization in U.S. states.; this is part 1 of a 3-part series, so more to come. As we’ve noted before, cannabis valuation issues are intertwined with regulatory and legalization issues, an interesting, but not necessarily unique
This recent piece from Forbes provides an interesting look into how Michael Dell scored a huge windfall by opportunistically taking Dell private while the stock was undervalued. Although the Delaware trial court had acknowledged a valuation much higher than the take-private price, the Supreme Court reversed mainly on policy grounds, on the rationale that public
Cannalaw Conference Wrap-up: What’s Next for Marijuana?
The conference closed with a look ahead to the future of the cannabis industry, patent issues, and emerging psychedelic market. What will we see with regards to patent enforcement? Only two cannabis related lawsuits have been filed to date, one that died. However, there is speculation that
The M&A panel at yesterday’s Cannalaw conference addressed what valuation techniques are being used to determine the purchase price of a marijuana company. While in recent years the traditional valuation metrics would normally be utilized – whether multiples of sales, revenues or EBITDA, for instance – the current market is experiencing a supply/demand imbalance, as