U.S. law firm K&L Gates served as lead counsel to live-streaming social entertainment platform 17LIVE Holding in its proposed combination with Singapore-based special purpose acquisition company Vertex Technology Acquisition Corporation.
This deal marks the first purchase of a private company by a SPAC listed in Singapore since the Singapore Exchange Security Trading Ltd (SGX-ST) allowed SPACs to float shares in 2021.
The deal values the combined entity at approximately $847 million and will involve the listing of 17LIVE on the SGX-ST. The proposed combination, still subject to the approval of SGX-ST and VTAC’s shareholders, was announced on Oct. 2.
K&L Gates’ cross-practice and cross-jurisdictional team that advised 17LIVE was led by Hong Kong-based corporate partner William Ho. Ho was supported by corporate partners James Chen and Billy Chen in Taipei, Tsuguhito Omagari and Nobuki Wada in Tokyo, and Christopher Tan in Singapore. Shanghai-based tax partner Roberta Chang and Pittsburgh-based employment and benefits partner Michael Hart also assisted on the deal.
VTAC was Singapore’s first SPAC to be listed in January 2022, marking the first major debut of such vehicles in Asia since the frenzy seen in the United States in early 2021 prior to regulatory changes there. It raised $148 million, with 13 cornerstone investors such as Temasek and Dymon Asia contributing 55 percent.
