Panera, SPAC USHG Acquisition end partnership deal as a Panera IPO is now ‘unlikely’ near term

USHG Acquisition Corp. and Panera Brands Inc. said Friday that they have decided to end their partnership, as deteriorating market conditions has made it “unlikely” that an initial public offering for Panera will happen in the near term. USHG shares were little changed in morning trading. USHG, a special purpose acquisition company, and fast-casual restaurant chain Panera, had announced an agreement in November in which USHG would have participated alongside the Panera Brands IPO. As part of the agreement, each USHG share would have been exchanged for a number of shares of Panera common stock following the IPO at an exchange ratio of $10 divided by the IPO price. USHG’s stock was still inactive in premarket trading. Panera said it will continue to prepare for and evaluate a potential IPO should market conditions improve. The partnership’s end comes at a time of relative investor disdain for recently IPO’d stocks, as the Renaissance IPO ETF has plunged 47.0% year to date while the S&P 500 has dropped 20.8%.

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