TAMPA, Fla. — Slam Corp, the shell company founded by former MLB player Alex Rodriguez, extended its merger deadline with Lynk Global but must refund $81 million to investors who redeemed shares instead of seeking a stake in the direct-to-smartphone satellite operator.
The three-month extension gives the shell company until March 25 to complete the transaction, according to a Dec. 26 regulatory filing.
After raising $575 million from listing shares on Nasdaq in February 2021 to search for an investment opportunity, Slam’s trust account has dwindled to just $23 million following multiple waves of investor redemptions.
Slam, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), originally had until February 2023 to merge with another company. The SPAC faced an initial wave of redemptions when it extended this deadline by a year, leading to a non-binding letter of intent to merge with Lynk in December 2023.
In September, after securing a four-month merger extension to Dec. 25, Lynk’s newly promoted CEO Dan Dooley said the company needed more time to get through the Securities and Exchange Commission regulatory process, without elaborating.
Stricter SPAC merger regulations introduced earlier in 2024 by the U.S. financial watchdog, aligning them with traditional IPO requirements, have likely contributed to the delay.
Funding expansion
In February, the Falls Church, Virginia-based company said it planned to raise at least $110 million from the SPAC merger, through remaining cash in Slam’s trust and a private sale of shares to investors before closing the deal.
However, high SPAC redemption rates have weighed on investments across multiple industries in recent years. Lynk also faces mounting competition from SpaceX and AST SpaceMobile as their fledgling direct-to-smartphone plans advance.
Lynk also outlined plans for a $40 million Series B funding round alongside the SPAC merger, though no recent updates have been disclosed.
The operator needs extra capital to expand its constellation after deploying five, in-house built satellites the size of a pizza box.
According to Lynk, the constellation is currently enabling intermittent texting and other low-bandwidth services for unmodified phones via partnerships with local telcos in parts of the Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, Palau, and at least four more countries.
Adding more satellites would expand Lynk’s coverage and reduce latency for these and other partners, helping keep their subscribers connected beyond cellular coverage. Lynk ultimately plans to deploy 5,000 satellites to improve global coverage.