Topps Co.’s plan to go public in a blank-check merger has been derailed by new exclusive contracts 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 a deal in April to become publicly traded through a merger with Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corp. II , a special-purpose acquisition company. SPACs are shell companies that raise money on public markets and then merge with a private business to make the target company publicly traded.
The deal fell through by mutual agreement after MLB and the union representing its players both reached new exclusive licensing deals with Fanatics Inc., an online sports-merchandise retailer, starting in the coming years.
With the deal’s collapse, Topps will remain private, it said. The SPAC merger had been announced in April and would have valued the combined entity at about $1.16 billion.
“Topps expects to be able to produce substantially all its current licensed baseball products through 2025, pursuant to its existing agreements,” the company said Friday.
