Artemis Strategic Investment Corporation (ARTE) Terminates Novibet Deal

Artemis Strategic Investment Corp. (NASDAQ:ARTE) announced in an 8-K that it has terminated its combination with British online gambling platform Novibet.

The SPAC did not disclose reasons for the breakup, but the deal was well past its December 30, 2022 outside date. That passage of time may have played a key role, however, as only 10 of the 171 pending SPAC deals have been sitting in the “Announced” column for longer.

In its case, the transaction has likely had a difficult road to final approval given that it is in the highly regulated gambling space and spread across the varied jurisdictions of Greece, Ireland, Italy, and Malta.

In general, the success of SPAC transactions in the gambling and gaming space has been somewhat scattered outside of Diamond Eagle’s 2020 tie-up with DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG). While DraftKings closed last week’s trading at $25.56, the only other gaming de-SPAC that last closed above $10 was Inspired Entertainment, which went public with Hydra Industries in 2016.

Artemis Strategic initially announced the combination earlier in March 2022 and Artemis worked to make the transaction more palatable to investors through the process.

In September, it slashed Novibet’s valuation in the deal by 20%, but included terms that would allow the company to recoup $125 million in shares if redemptions exceeded 85%. That clause seemed destined to trigger as redemptions among completed deals in 2023 have averaged above 96% so far.

Artemis now intends to seek out a new merger target, but it is coming up on its completion deadline on July 4.