Asia Special Situation Acquisition Co. (AMEX: CIO) completed its last-second merger to become a reinsurer and owner of several investment firms last week with the help of Victory Park Capital Advisors, taking its warrants from the bargain bin and catapulting their value. Since then, the company’s shares have traded down nearly 20%, however.

ARMOUR Residential REIT Inc. (ARR) was de-listed from the AMEX after attempting to appeal the exchange’s initial ruling. In 2009, the exchange told ARMOUR it had too few shareholders—as it warned several companies brought public via SPAC. ARMOUR was brought public via Enterprise Acquisition Co.; that SPAC was helped past the finish line (as several blank checks were last year) by Victory Park. The company has applied to have its shares traded on NASDAQ.

BPW Acquisition Co. (AMEX: BPW) will have its vote date on Feb. 24 for its common shareholders who will decide whether or not the SPAC provides ailing retailer The Talbots Inc. (NYSE: TLB). Its warrant vote is expected to be held separately from the common vote; SPACupdate.com is carrying exclusive news on the SPAC’s warrant vote.

Ultimate Escapes (AMEX: UEI) might not remain on the AMEX for so long. The resort operator brought public via Secure America Acquisition Co. (and, again, helped to the finish line by Victory Park) was rapped with a second de-listing threat from the exchange recently. Several other SPACs were given de-listing threats by the AMEX in 2009; it remains to see how several of those will play out.

With more merger votes coming soon, SPACupdate.com will continue to monitor blank checks and their ongoing deal situations.

Brought exclusively by SPACUpdate.com.

Also this week, Atlas Acquisition Co. (AMEX: AXG) will request on Jan. 20 its shareholders provide it with a few weeks more before its liquidation deadline in order to prepare its deal with Koosharem Corp.’s Select Staffing. With staffing services getting continued valuation boosts thanks to their popularity through the lingering recession, SPACupdate.com sources and research indicates this SPAC timed its target selection well. The SPAC looks to delay its vote until mid-February; so if it succeeds Wednesday, look for warrants to get a boost from the $0.30 range at which they have recently traded.

Already, Overture Acquisition Co. (AMEX: NLX) shares are trading at around their redemption value, despite the SPAC’s deal vote of Jan. 27 being more than a week away. The SPAC’s deal to bring public a subsidiary of Jefferson National Life Insurance Company in Bermuda requires its target to put cash into buybacks, which should help Overture Acquisition Co.’s odds. The SPAC will restructure its warrants (currently trading around $0.30); it has yet to announce any specific buybacks as part of its deal.

Finally, last week, as expected, Chardan 2008 China Acquisition Co. (NASDAQ: DJSP) successfully completed its deal and Sports Properties Acquisition Co. (AMEX: HMR) saw its merger slip through the cracks. Chardan (formerly trading under CACA) has performed well since its deal’s completion. SPACupdate.com will continue to monitor blank checks and their ongoing deal situations.

Brought exclusively by SPACUpdate.com.

On Jan. 15, Sports Properties Acquisition Co. (NYSE: HMR) will convene shareholders to vote on its deal to become a taxicab medallion manager and to change its title to Medallion Management. The SPAC has set out on multiple buyback campaigns, but its warrants have not taken a price spike that would signal investor confidence. However, the SPAC’s shares are trading well beneath their redemption value; Sports Properties is one of the biggest remaining blank checks awaiting a deal vote, so we suspect more buybacks will be necessary.

Stunningly, Asia Special Situation Acquisition Co. (AMEX: CIO) has cobbled together a last-second deal pitch on the heels of its first merger attempt’s failure. The SPAC wants to acquire an 81.5% stake in Allied Provident Insurance Co., a reinsurance company, and the assets of hedge funds Stillwater Funds, Wimbledon Financing Master Fund and Wimbledon Real Estate Financing Fund. The SPAC also plans to buy Northstar Group, which operates two insurance entities in Bermuda and Ireland. The merged entities’ name will change to Gerova Capital Corp. Asia Special Situation warrants are selling for around $0.40 and its shares are trading more than $0.50 off their redemption value. These facts aside, we predict it will be difficult for the SPAC to wrap a brand new deal in just 12 short days—although the SPAC’s management team has earned praise for hastily trying to save their blank check’s future in short order. The SPAC will have its merger vote on Jan. 19.

Plenty more action lies ahead this month for blank checks so SPACupdate.com will continue to weigh on 247WallSt.com with the latest breaking news.

HICKS ACQUISITION (NYSE: REN): The SPAC’s deal with Graham Packaging on life support, dealmaker Thomas O. Hicks rejuvenated his $550 million SPAC with a new target, Resolute Energy Corp. Investors including SPO Advisory piled on and the merger pulled through, taking warrants that were worth $0.08 just weeks away from the SPAC’s deadline and inflating their value to $2.17 on Dec. 18. Since the IPO, units are up more than 30 percent.

TM ENTERTAINMENT (AMEX: CCME): The Ted Green-led SPAC went from, in March, being sued by Bulldog Investors to liquidate early, to finding a winning target in China MediaExpress. The $82 million SPAC went on a successful warrant buyback campaign after the deal was completed, buying nearly 2 million warrants at $0.50 a pop. The company’s revenues grew 65% last quarter and net income was up 43 percent. The SPAC’s units have more than doubled in value from their worth at the time of the IPO, making this deal one of the best SPACs of the recession.

SPRING CREEK ACQUISITION (NASDAQ: AUTC): The Mighty Mouse of this year’s SPACs at $41 million, Spring Creek brought AutoChina International public in April 2009 and almost immediately began working to sell the company’s dealership business to focus on auto financing. The result was an explosion of value that investors have been riding for eight months. Target managers who decided to buy warrants prior to the deal’s vote saved a mint in cash and dilution. Warrants went from trading for pennies to hitting an eye-popping $20 each as they became eligible for redemption and the SPAC’s units are up a mind-boggling 400%-plus. Yes: four hundred percent.

Losers:

GLOBAL CONSUMER ACQUISITION (WLBC): First, the SPAC sought to bring public some assets of Colonial Bank, but that target failed and was bought by an owner who then refused to sell to the SPAC. Not being short on banks desperate for a capital injection, management arranged a new merger to bring Service1st Bank of Nevada and 1st Commerce Bank public. It worked—until it didn’t. Days after the deal’s completion in October, AMEX officials notified the merged entity, now called Western Liberty Bancorp, it would be de-listed for not maintaining enough shareholders. 1st Commerce then dissolved its merger agreement, leaving Global Consumer and Service1st looking for a new exchange to trade on (it is trying to get onto NASDAQ) as well as a new target. The SPAC’s units are trading 15% below their IPO value now—but the blank check’s management at least succeeded in getting a deal done.

ASIA SPECIAL SITUATION (AMEX: CIO): In March 2009, Asia Special Situation announced a deal to buy White Energy, an Australia-based energy supplier for Korea. Months dragged on until July, when the SPAC amended its agreement to offer the target more cash. As the vote date drew closer, the target got cold feet and in November instead opted to accept a $100 million capital injection from an outside investor. The SPAC—which might have had success had it sped its deal vote’s arrival—will liquidate, more than nine months after its merger was first revealed.

PINPOINT ACQUISITION (PPAC): In May, Pinpoint Acquisition announced a deal had not materialized sufficiently and that it would liquidate, retaining only a few thousand dollars and remaining a shell company in search of SPAC-capital. After holding onto shareholders’ redemption checks for up to seven months following the liquidation announcement, the SPAC found a new way to raise funds. It sued former target Elbit Systems for bad faith for a deal that had fallen apart months earlier. That suit has yet to proceed.

Other SPACs getting high marks for 2009 include GHL Acquisition Co. (NASDAQ: IRDMU), 2020 ChinaCap (NASDAQ: EDS) and China Opportunity (GGEEF). More blank checks that ran into difficulty after the merger include Triplecrown (OTC: CAGZ), InterAmerican (IAQG), and Alyst (OTC: CNWHF). 2010’s SPAC deals already have investors buzzing; the BPW-Talbots (AMEX: BPW) deal pushed the SPAC’s shares past redemption value almost immediately. Chardan 2008 China (AMEX: CACA) reversed course; that SPAC has sized up a Florida-based company that processes property bankruptcies for a deal. That blank check, too, is currently seeing its shares trade above trust. New SPAC GSME Acquisition Co. (OTC: GSMEF) priced late this year, marking the first post-recession blank check to emerge and 57th St. Acquisition Co. continues to raise capital. Smaller and boutique banks keep working to connect SPAC sponsors with management teams and in Toronto, the TSX awaits its first blank check.

For more on these and other SPACs, please visit www.SPACupdate.com.

Friday, China Holdings Acquisition Co. (AMEX: HOL) will have its deal vote to bring ceramic tile maker Jinjiang Hengda Ceramics Co., Ltd. The SPAC, earlier this week, entered into an agreement with forward contract champ Victory Park Capital Advisors to buy back 4 million shares at a small premium. The $150 million SPAC joins a long list of successful blank checks from this fall—among them, REIT-targeting vehicles Enterprise Acquisition Co. (AMEX: EST)—that used forward contracts to get their deals done.

New SPACs are headed to the market: 57th St. General Acquisition Co., using Morgan Joseph as its bookrunner, filed paperwork this week with regulators stating the intent to bring a $57 million blank check public. The SPAC, like GSME Acquisition Co., has a redemption threshold above the 80% mark. Warrant buyers should take note of the improved odds for a deal’s completion when making investment decisions, when both of these SPACs price. Both SPACs will trade OTC on the Bulletin Board.

Last week, it was revealed that Asia Special Situation Acquisition Co. (AMEX: CIO) lost not just its deal to buy an energy company, but its CEO as well, who resigned. The SPAC still has a few months to complete its deal, but the exit of its leadership and its one-time target spurning its offer to instead accept a $100 million investment elsewhere certainly does not bode well for the blank check.

Prospect Acquisition Co. (AMEX: PAX) completed its deal to buy California REIT Kennedy-Wilson Inc. last week. The SPAC’s merger was helped along, once again, by Victory Park Capital Advisors. China MediaExpress (AMEX: TMI) bought back almost $2 million in warrants, the SPAC revealed, in an effort to curb dilution. And China Fundamental Acquisition Co. (OTC: CFQCF) found a merger partner and might try to extend its deal deadline.

For more on these mergers and other deal votes, please visit www.SPACupdate.com.

Lately, Victory Park has helped several SPACs make it across the finish line, including Hicks Acquisition Co. (AMEX: TOH), Enterprise Acquisition Co. (AMEX: EST) and Triplecrown Acquisition Co. (AMEX: TCW). Earlier this week, Guardian Life Insurance Co., a lender to Kennedy-Wilson, bought into the blank check and was allowed to appoint one of its board members.

China Fundamental Acquisition Co. (OTC: CFQCF) has a deal. The SPAC has not revealed its merger target, so there’s not much more to report than that. The blank check’s warrants, at around $0.95, were trading higher than any other SPAC that had not declared a merger, prior to its announcement. China Fundamental told its shareholders it could look to extend its deal deadline by up to a year, to May 2011.

Global Brands Acquisition Co. (AMEX: GQN) has less than a month to complete a merger, but there is no time to get started like the present. As several SPACs have already done this fall, Global Brands will look to take Gerrity International, a West Coast REIT, public.

North Shore Acquisition Co. (OTC: NSAQ), which was working to get its merger with a Korean offshore drilling company completed by early December, announced that it is now attempting to push its deal deadline back to March 2010.

Asia Special Situation Acquisition Co. (AMEX: CIO) saw its deal with White Energy collapse when its target took a $100 million investment from another bidder. The SPAC now has until Jan. 10, 2010 to identify a new target and get a merger completed.

For more on these mergers and other deal votes, please visit www.SPACupdate.com.