Billionaire Tilman Fertitta’s hotel company Fertitta Entertainment Inc and blank-check company FAST Acquisition Corp said on Friday they had mutually agreed to terminate their $8.6 billion merger agreement.
The companies reached a settlement that provides FAST and its shareholders up to $33 million in upfront and deferred payments, a part of which is contingent upon whether the blank-check firm ultimately merges with a target, according to a statement by the companies.
“We ultimately determined that the right decision for my company was to remain private at this time, and I look forward to continuing to grow our business both organically and in-organically,” Fertitta said in the statement.
The move comes after FAST refused to end its merger with Fertitta Entertainment, saying the termination, which was initiated by the company earlier this month, was invalid.
FAST said last week Fertitta’s delay in delivering its financial statements is why the deal had not been closed by the termination date, and so it has no right to unilaterally break the merger agreement.
Fertitta had expanded its agreement in June to go public with blank-check company FAST Acquisition Corp to include a few hospitality and restaurant entities, raising the deal’s value to $8.6 billion from $6.6 billion when the merger was announced in February.
Source: Reuters.com