Chris Bryant, Columnist

Why a $33 Billion SPAC Deal Couldn’t Pay Its Bankers

MSP Recovery was short of cash, so it stuck its advisers with an IOU.

June 21, 2022 at 4:00 AM UTC

Chris Bryant is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies in Europe. Previously, he was a reporter for the Financial Times.

In this photo illustration the stock trading graph of MSP — Photographer: SOPA Images/LightRocket

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MSP Recovery Inc. was valued at almost $33 billion prior to going public last month, making the healthcare-litigation company the most expensive US SPAC deal ever, at least on paper. The excitement didn’t last.

MSP is now worth a more modest $4.3 billion after the shares collapsed more than 85% since its blank-check merger closed and regular trading began, and the drama didn’t end there. Just days after listing, MSP warned its ability to continue as a going concern was in substantial doubt. Nomura Holdings Inc. and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. (a Stifel Financial Corp. subsidiary) accepted $45 million in promissory notes – IOUs to you and me – in lieu of their advisory fees, because MSP lacked cash to pay them.