Latin American Blank-Check Company MELI Kaszek Pioneer Corp Going Public

MELI Kaszek Pioneer Corp is going public as part of a plan to buy a Latin American tech company, according to a company statement, a Bloomberg report on Monday (Sept. 13) said.

The blank-check company, also known as a special-purpose acquisition purpose company (SPAC),  is sponsored by Latin American e-commerce giant MercadoLibre Inc. and Kaszek. BofA Securities, Goldman Sachs, Allen & Company and JPMorgan are the likely underwriters on the IPO, according to the Bloomberg report, which notes the company will sell 25 million ordinary shares for $10 each on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol MEKA.

There are about 450 blank-check companies looking for deals, the Bloomberg report says, citing information from SPACResearch.com.

Related: M&A Deals Hit Record Levels; SPACs Aid Surge

SPAC-related deals hit a record $348 billion through the end of May. An SPAC is formed when a company that lacks operations goes public, with the sole purpose of raising cash.

Jim McCarthy, president at i2c, told PYMNTS this summer that a digital shift will mean increased mergers, acquisitions and SPAC action in the payments processing, credit and financial services sectors.

Read next: eCommerce Marketplace Packable Nets $1.5B Value in SPAC Merger

Third-party online marketplace Packable, which operates on about a half-dozen eCommerce platforms — including Amazon, Walmart, eBay and Google Shopping — on Thursday (Sept. 9) announced it would merge with Highland Transcend Partners I Corp in a SPAC deal valued at $1.5 billion.

Packable partnered with lead investor Carlyle in November.

Also read: MercadoLibre To Funnel $1.1 Billion To Mexico Operation

Earlier this year, MercadoLibre invested $1.1 billion to expand its Mexico operations, including doubling its warehouse space and adding services including consumer credit while creating more than 4,700 new jobs. MercadoLibre spent about $420 million in Mexico in 2020.

Although MercadoLibre’s main market is Argentina, in the fourth quarter of 2020, Mexico saw more business for the company. The company has ramped up its delivery network in Mexico and opened a fourth distribution center, a 645,835-square-foot site in the northern state of Nuevo Leon.