Topps is going public through a $ 1.3 billion SPAC deal

Topps is going public through a $ 1.3 billion SPAC deal

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Topps on Tuesday announced plans to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, into a deal that values ​​Topps at $ 1.3 billion. The company will combine with a blank check firm called Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation II, (MUDS) or MUDS. MUDS shares jumped more than 15% with the news.

The transaction also includes a so-called $ 250 million private equity investment (or PIPE).

Topps has been a publicly traded company several times over its 83 years of business. More recently, the company was closed in 2007 by The Tornante Co., an investment company run by the former Disney (DIS) CEO Michael Eisner, in a $ 385 million deal.

Demand (and prices) for baseball cards and other collectibles has skyrocketed recently due to the 21st century turnaround in business from the newly discovered popularity of NFTs.

Topps recently expanded its business to sell digital editions of its gamer cards, each with an exclusive NFT based on blockchain technology. This creates a scarcity value that makes them more desirable to collectors – and more valuable.

Topps is “well placed with a universally recognized brand to capitalize on the emerging collectible NFTs market,” said Jason Mudrick, founder and chief investment officer at Mudrick Capital, in the statement.

Eisner, who will remain president of Topps once the merger with SPAC is completed, added in the statement that there is “a strong emotional connection between the Topps brand and consumers of all ages”.

Topps has a “growing portfolio of strategic licensing partnerships” that will help make it profitable, he said. The company has the famous brand of chewing gum Bazooka, as well as the brands Ring Pop, Baby Bottle Pop and Juicy Drop and sweets and sour gel.

But given the current collectible craze, Topps’ core baseball card business is the main attraction.

Dapper Labs, a Canadian blockchain company that developed the collectible crypto company NBA Top Shot, recently raised more than $ 300 million from a group that includes basketball legend Michael Jordan and current Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant . Dapper, which also developed CryptoKitties, is now valued at $ 2.6 billion, according to data from research firm CB Insights.

Wealthy investors are increasingly betting on sports collector cards, in addition to more traditional assets such as stocks, bonds and real estate.

To that end, an autographed beginner’s card of 2,000 for football legend Tom Brady was sold for nearly $ 2.3 million at an auction last week. That was a record price, breaking the previous record of more than $ 1.3 million that another new Brady card set just a few weeks earlier.

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