Gabelli Entertainment & Telecommunications Acquisition Corp Files for $200 Million AMEX IPO

Our billionaire friends at GAMCO Investors, Inc. (NYSE: GBL; a provider of investment advisory services to mutual funds, institutional and private wealth management investors, and investment partnerships), filed for a $200 million AMEX IPO last night.

Mario J. Gabelli (pictured at left), the billionaire CEO of GAMCO and ranked 698 among The World's Richest People In 2006, and a crew of GAMCO factoti have teamed up with Frederic V. Salerno, who was vice chairman and chief financial officer of Verizon until 2002, to target operating businesses or assets in the media, entertainment, telecommunications or financial services industries.

The team will own 20% of the post-IPO entity.

The market has responded well to this development, as GBL is up over 5% on news of the filing today.

Click here for the filing
Click here for Gabelli's Bio

NYSE joins Nasdaq in Proposing Minimum Guidelines for SPAC Listings

Highlights of the guidelines include:

• Minimum $250 million in total market capitalization and $200 million in public float at the time of initial listing
• Minimum of 90% of the IPO proceeds be placed in trust
• Business combination must be undertaken within three years

Click here for more

Nasdaq Proposes Minimum Guidelines for SPAC Listings: Submits Guideline to SEC

Now that Nasdaq and NYSE have had their lunch eaten by AMEX for over a year (55 IPOs have priced on the AMEX since the beginning of 2007 -- think of the lost revenue!), they've decided to jump in the game. In contrast to NYSE's more stringent requirements detailed in a previous post, Nasdaq, its less credible, but more liquid little brother, has proposed the following:

• Gross proceeds from the initial public offering must be deposited in an escrow account maintained by an "insured depository institution,"
• Business combination within 36 months
• Business combination using aggregate cash consideration equaling at least 80% of the value of the escrow account at the time of the initial combination
• Minimum market value of listed securities of $75 million on the Nasdaq Global Market; Minimum market value of listed securities of $50 million on the Nasdaq Capital Market