Maples Group Assists on Landmark S$1.16 billion de-SPAC Transaction in Singapore
Maples and Calder, the Maples Group’s law firm, is pleased to have advised Vertex Technology Acquisition Corporation Ltd (“Vertex”), a special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”), on its business combination with 17LIVE Inc. (“17Live”), a Taiwanese live streaming platform. The transaction, which completed on 7 December 2023, valued the combined entity at approximately S$1.16 billion. As a result of the business combination, 17Live was listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.
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Maples and Calder, the Maples Group’s law firm, is pleased to have advised Vertex Technology Acquisition Corporation Ltd (“Vertex”), a special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”), on its business combination with 17LIVE Inc. (“17Live”), a Taiwanese live streaming platform. The transaction, which completed on 7 December 2023, valued the combined entity at approximately S$1.16 billion. As a result of the business combination, 17Live was listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.
The IPO of Vertex was the debut of SPAC listings in Asia following the roll-out of the new Singapore framework allowing SPACs to list on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (“SGX-Mainboard”). This is the first ever de-SPAC transaction in Singapore and represents the first live streaming company to be listed on SGX-Mainboard. These deals closely follow the firm’s recent announcement signalling further growth in Singapore and wider APAC region.
A team of Corporate lawyers based in the firm’s Hong Kong and Singapore offices acted as Cayman Islands counsel to Vertex and was led by Partner and head of the Asia Corporate practice, Matt Roberts, with assistance from Corporate legal manager Clare Tsang and Corporate associate Zarmina Tirmzi, as well as Corporate paralegal Jenni Pham.
Commenting on the transaction, Matt said: “It has been an absolute pleasure to again assist Vertex on this ground breaking de-SPAC transaction. We assisted Vertex on its initial SPAC listing back in January 2022, a milestone first for Singapore and the APAC SPAC market, and we are extremely pleased to see Vertex reaching yet another significant achievement for its stakeholders. Our Asia team have a market leading M&A, capital markets and SPAC practice and remain dedicated to delivering comprehensive, innovative and tailored legal solutions to our clients in the APAC region.”
Eng & Co. LLC acted as local Singapore counsel to Vertex.