Trump-linked SPAC surges as fraud settlement lifts hopes for deal completion

(Reuters) -Shares of Digital World Acquisition (DWAC) surged 55% on Friday as a settlement with U.S. securities regulator over fraud charges cleared some of the uncertainty over the blank-check firm’s merger with former U.S. President Donald Trump’s media and tech company.

The stock’s gain puts it on course for its best day since November last year and is the highest percentage gainer on the Index.

The special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which in October 2021 agreed to take Truth Social-parent Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) public, agreed to pay $18 million in fine to settle charges that it had made “material misrepresentations” to investors if it closes the merger.

“It was weighing on shares and this gives investors hope that a deal could be completed,” said Dennis Dick, a trader and equity market structure analyst at Triple D Trading.

If the deal consummates, TMTG will have more than $1 billion of cash in its reach from the SPAC’s institutional investors.

The move comes after a regulatory filing earlier this month showed that DWAC had reached a non-binding agreement with SEC staff over a probe into its deal to take TMTG public.

Earlier, the SPAC had extended the deadline to acquire TMTG by three months to Sept. 8 and named interim boss Eric Swider as its chief executive officer.

Trump founded Truth Social months after he was permanently suspended on Twitter and Meta Platforms’ Facebook (NASDAQ:) and has since amassed more than 5.5 million followers on his conservative social media platform.