Kaepernick-Backed “Social Justice” SPAC Disappoints In Public Debut

In a time when a record $1.5 billion in new SPAC issuance hits the market every single day amid unprecedented, massive investor demand…

… it is virtually unheard of to find a blank check vehicle that does not soar on the first day of trading. And while that may be the case for SPACs that generally invest on their supposed merits which are a mix of the sponsor’s professional reputation and investing acumen which assures that the target company will be at least a somewhat suitable – and successful – investment, it certainly appears to not be the case for SPAC vehicles designed to be just a way to signal one’s virtues to the rest of the market.

That was the case today with Mission Advancement, a company co-sponsored by former NFL quarterback-turned activist Colin Kaepernick, which was barely changed in anemic volumes in its debut after boosting its initial public offering to raise $300 million.

Shares of the blank-check firm, which boasts of a board made up entirely of “Black, Indigenous and people of color,” were flat at $10.01 at 12:42 p.m. Wednesday.

According to Bloomberg, the company, which is in part run by Jahm Najafi, who heads private-equity firm Najafi Companies, sold 30 million units for $10 apiece Tuesday. Najafi and Kaepernick will “focus on diversity issues and racial justice” and aim to acquire a consumer company with an enterprise value around $1 billion.

At least on its first day of trading, the market is less than excited about the possibility.

As Bloomberg also notes, today’s debut for Kaepernick’s SPAC marked the second former-professional athlete-backed blank check company to go public in the last 10 days. Former Yankee all-star Alex Rodriguez’s Slam Corp. rose 5.1% in its first day of trading on Feb. 23, but has since trimmed gains to just 0.9%.