UTA Acquisition Corp., led by former Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aime, is now publicly trading
The company is raising $200 million in public money as a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The SPAC will target acquisitions in the gaming and entertainment space.
UTA will sell 20 million shares at $10 per share, before announcing acquisitions. What is known thus far about its acquisition plans is UTA will target a gaming company, or multiple companies, to merge into the SPAC. UTA said it is looking into private firms in video gaming, digital media, entertainment, tech, and the creator economy as part of its go-public SPAC strategy.
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies allow private companies to merge into a public entity, streamlining the costs and processes normally associated with IPO’s. The private company can use a SPAC to quickly access public markets with their assets for continued and future growth.
The UTA SPAC began trading on the NASDAQ last Thursday with the ticker: UTAAU
In the first three quarters of 2021, investors have injected $71 billion into the video game industry via direct investment, acquisitions, and public offerings. This represents nearly twice the dollar volume of the entirety of 2020.
With the sector being so attractive to investors, and SPACS targeting small-to-midsized companies to merge with, accredited investors are wise to focus their capital on smaller gaming developers, publishers, and others with patent portfolios. Those that could be targeted next.
These pre-merger companies could offer investors a quick valuation increase on any acquisition announcement, as a SPAC may pay a strong premium for proven assets.
More than SPACs, however, M&A activity by larger public and private gaming companies has already driven up valuations on smaller developers, publishers, and companies with patent portfolios.
Now, because of the competition over smaller game tech companies between SPACS and big publishers, valuations in these non-public players could reach record levels faster than at any time in the past.
Read more about the UTA SPAC, HERE
Or, learn more about a non-public investible gaming company with a patent portfolio, HERE