European lottery group Allwyn and Cohn Robbins SPAC call off deal

European lottery group Allwyn and Cohn Robbins SPAC call off deal

Article brief provided by Reuters
  • Reuters
September 26, 2022 9:22 PM

European lottery group Allwyn Entertainment and the blank-check company that would have seen its shares list in New York said on Friday they decided to cancel their deal, citing volatile market conditions.

Story continues below

Allwyn struck a merger deal with the blank-check firm Cohn Robbins Holdings Corp in January, putting the combined firm’s enterprise value at about $9.3 billion at that time.

Investor appetite for these blank-check firms, also called special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), has cooled over the past year due to tougher regulations, rising interest rates and a downturn in public market valuations.

Allwyn and Cohn Robbins’ announcement comes the same day as the SPAC backed by private equity firm TPG Inc decided to wind down its operations, also citing market volatility.