The Topps Co. plan of making itself public in a blank check merger has been derailed by the new exclusive contracts that Major League Baseball and its players union signed with a different trading card company.
Topps, the leading baseball card company since the 1950s, had reached an agreement in April to become a public stock exchange through a merger with Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company. SPACs are interest-bearing companies that raise money in public markets and then merge with a private business to make the target company listed on the stock exchange.
The deal was formalized by mutual agreement after MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association reached new exclusive licensing agreements with Fanatics Inc., an online sporting goods retailer, starting in the coming years. Sports card manufacturers rely on these offers to obtain the rights to use the players ’images, logos and trademarks of the teams.
With the collapse of the deal, Topps will remain private, he said. The SPAC merger had been announced in April and would have valued the combined entity at about $ 1.166 billion.
“Topps expects to be able to produce substantially all of its current licensed baseball products by 2025, in accordance with its existing agreements,” the company said Friday.