BRIEF: Synagistics completes Hong Kong’s first listing via SPAC merger

Southeast Asian e-commerce company Synagistics Ltd. (2562.HK) announced on Wednesday it completed its merger with HK Acquisition Corp., making it the first company to list in Hong Kong using a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Synagistics said the merger was completed at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, after meeting all closing conditions, including approval by HK Acquisition Corp.’s shareholders.

As part of the original merger plan, which valued Synagistics at HK$3.5 billion ($450 million), the two parties previously said they also secured HK$551 million in commitments from 10 investors. Synagistics shares more than doubled during the Wednesday morning session in Hong Kong, but later gave back the gains and were down 2% in afternoon trade.

Hong Kong launched its SPAC program at the beginning of 2022, and five SPACs had made IPOs as of June this year. But HK Acquisition Corp. is the first from that group to complete a merger with a real company, Synagistics. The company is based in Singapore but counts Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA.US; 9988.HK) as a major shareholder.

Reporting by Doug Young

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