Harneys advises SAITECH Limited on US$188 million de-SPAC transaction
On 29 April 2022, a global energy-saving bitcoin mining operator and a clean-tech company that integrates Bitcoin mining, heating and power industries, SAITECH Limited (SAITECH) and TradeUP Global Corporation, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) completed their “De-SPAC” business combination. The transaction values the company, which generated revenue of approximately US$8 million in the first half of 2021 of US$188 million. Harneys acted as BVI and Cayman counsel to SAITECH on instructions from Winston & Strawn.
SAITECH focusses on lower-impact energy usage to promote the clean evolution of bitcoin mining. The company expects to use the proceeds from the transaction to invest in SAITECH's growth initiatives and recycled energy technologies, including expanding the current mining data centre operation capacity, deploying more chip heating data centre sites and exploring new mining operation sites globally, and to provide additional working capital in addition to covering transaction-related costs. Estimated cash proceeds to SAITECH from the transaction are expected to consist of TradeUP Global's US$44.9 million of cash in trust (assuming no redemptions). In connection with the closing of the transaction, TradeUP Global will change its name to SAI.TECH Global Corporation and the Class A ordinary shares and warrants of SAI.TECH Global Corporation will commence trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market on May 2, 2022, under the new ticker symbols, "SAI" and "SAITW," respectively.
The Harneys team was led by Partner George Weston with support from Partner Christopher Hall, and Associate Melissa Thomas.
George commented: “We are very happy to have worked on this transaction with a fantastic team at SAITECH and Winston. We wish SAI.TECH Global Corporation the best of success as a Cayman incorporated Nasdaq listed entity. M&A and ECM activity in the tech sector has been extremely high in the last year, with SPACs playing a significant role.”
Harneys has a leading Equity Capital Markets (ECM) practice with substantial experience regarding all aspects of capital raising by offshore companies, including IPOs and secondary offerings, rights issues, equity linked securities, including convertible and exchangeable bonds, SPACs and business combinations, as well as private placements, take-privates, takeovers and spin-offs. The ECM practice’s expertise lies in advising entities listed or listing on all major stock exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, the London Stock Exchange, AIM, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, all of which have issuers who frequently use offshore structures as part of their capital raising.
