Topps will be made public through a $ 1.3 billion SPAC agreement

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Topps announced Tuesday that it plans to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, in a deal that values ​​Topps at $ 1.3 billion. The company will be combined with a so-called blank check firm Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation II, (FANS) or MUDS. MUDS shares appeared more than 15% in the news.

The transaction also includes a so-called private investment in public capital (or PIPE) of $ 250 million.

Topps has been a publicly traded company several times throughout its 83 years of business. Most recently, the company was privately owned in 2007 by The Tornante Co., an investment company run by alumni Disney (DIS) CEO Michael Eisner, in a deal worth $ 385 million.

Demand (and prices) for baseball cards and other collectibles has been on the roof lately due to the turn of the 21st century in the business due to the recent popularity of NFTs.

Topps has recently expanded its business to sell digital editions of its player cards, each with a unique NFT based on blockchain technology. This creates a scarcity value that makes them more desirable to collectors and more valuable.

Topps is “well placed with a universally recognized brand to capitalize on the rapidly emerging market for collectible NFTs,” said Jason Mudrick, founder and chief investment officer of Mudrick Capital.

Eisner, who will remain president of Topps once the SPAC merger is completed, added in the statement that there is “a strong emotional connection between the Topps brand and consumers of all ages.”

Topps has a “growing portfolio of strategic licensing partnerships” that will help make it profitable, he said. The company owns the famous Bazooka gum brand as well as the Ring Pop, Baby Bottle Pop and Juicy Drop brands of sweets and acid ice.

But given the current fashion for collecting, Topps ’main baseball card business is the main attraction.

Dapper Labs, a Canadian blockchain company that developed the NBA crypto-collectible company Top Shot, recently raised more than $ 300 million from a group that includes basketball legend Michael Jordan and the current star player Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets. Dapper, which also developed CryptoKitties, is valued at $ 2.6 billion, according to research firm CB Insights.

Wealthy investors are increasingly betting on sports trading cards, as well as more traditional assets such as stocks, bonds and real estate.

To that end, the 2000 autograph rookie card for football legend Tom Brady just sold for about $ 2.3 million at an auction last week. This was a record price, surpassing the previous all-time high of more than $ 1.3 million that another Brady rookie card set a few weeks earlier.

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