A special company called SPAC, supported by casino businessman Lawrence Ho, finished merging with a small media and entertainment company. When this new company started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, its stock price went up and down a lot.
The company, called Generation Essentials Group (TGE), is based in France. On its first day of trading, its shares jumped up by as much as 234%, but by the end of the day, the price settled around $10.04. This gave the company a total value of about $533 million.
TGE merged with Black Spade Acquisition II, which is a special company created by Lawrence Ho’s family investment group in Hong Kong. The deal valued TGE’s equity at $488 million and its total business worth at $892 million. Black Spade Acquisition II was listed almost a year ago, raising $150 million to find a company in entertainment, lifestyle, or technology that uses AI.
TGE is part of AMTD Digital, a company that became very popular when it started trading in 2022. The founder of AMTD Digital, Calvin Choi, quickly became very rich on paper, but since then, the company’s stock has lost more than 99% of its value.
TGE used to be called World Media and Entertainment Universal. It says it works in global media and entertainment, including fashion, arts, culture, lifestyle, and food and drinks. The company owns media brands like L’Officiel fashion magazine and the Art Newspaper. It also makes Chinese-language movies that have earned over $400 million at the box office and owns two hotels—one in Hong Kong and one in Singapore.
In 2024, most of TGE’s money came from investments in banks and film projects. Their revenue grew 81% to $77 million last year, with almost half coming from these investments. Other money came from their hotels and advertising. Their profit more than doubled to $44.7 million, helped by selling some smaller parts of the business.
A spokesperson from Black Spade Capital said TGE and Lawrence Ho’s entertainment and hotel businesses work well together. They are looking for new ways to work together and grow. With a hardworking and creative team and good financial support, they believe TGE will become a top company in media, fashion, and art.
Lawrence Ho, who runs the big casino company Melco International and is the son of the late casino legend Stanley Ho, started his first SPAC in the U.S. in 2021, raising $169 million. Two years later, SPAC merged with VinFast Auto, a Vietnamese electric car company owned by the country’s richest person, Pham Nhat Vuong. VinFast’s stock price went up very fast, reaching a huge value, but it has since dropped by over 95%.
