HotelPlanner and Reservations.com Scrap $688 Million SPAC Merger

Blank-check firm Astrea Acquisition Corp., travel tech company HotelPlanner and online hotel booking platform Reservations.com have mutually ended their $688 million merger deal, the parties said on Monday.

Shares of Astrea were up over 16% in early trading.

“All three companies believe that terminating the business combination is the best path forward for all parties,” the companies said in a statement, without citing a reason.

HotelPlanner, Reservations.com, and Astrea decided to merge in August last year, with the deal potentially resulting in cash proceeds of $120 million for the combined entity.

Astrea went public in a $150 million initial public offering in February last year. Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) typically have up to two years to hunt for a company to take public, failing which they must return their shareholders’ money.

Last week, 3D printing firm Essentium Inc and telecom services firm Syniverse Technologies also ended their blank-check mergers, as inflation concerns and geopolitical tensions add to worries for companies seeking to go public through the SPAC route.

A SPAC is a shell company that raises money in an IPO and puts it in a trust to merge with a private company and take it public. (Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)

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