Airplane 2 July 25, 2007March 8, 2017 FLIGHT INFO – GREAT TIP! Bob Fyfe: ‘Simply send a text message or e-mail to info@ezflt.com with the airline code and flight number and you receive back the status of the flight. It’s a great help when you are picking someone up at the airport . . .’ ☞ . . . or when you’re going to the airport yourself. I just sent ezflt an email with AA 1197 in the subject line – nothing more – and moments later got back: From: ATL Sch: Jul 24 8:10am Act: Jul 24 8:07am Gt: T9 To: DFW Sch: Jul 24 9:20am Act: Jul 24 9:16am Gt: C27/C Bag Clm: C26 They say it works with all U.S. carriers except Jet Blue and Southwest (‘coming soon’) and major overseas carriers. As you know, American = AA, Delta = DL, Continental = CO, United = UA, Northwest = NW, and so on. ANOTHER SPAC Regular readers of this column know about SPACs – Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (also known as ‘blank check companies’) – formed to make an acquisition even before the company has identified a target. Aldabra was such a SPAC. It went on to acquire Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, and the Aldabra warrants, which became Great Lakes warrants, did well for us (the drop in GLDD stock over the last couple of days to $7.79 notwithstanding) (well, withstanding a little, but this much drop I can withstand). Some of us have bought warrants in another SPAC, as well – symbol HAPNW – which, like the first bet, is a complete speculation. I remain hopeful. Better odds, I hope, than a lottery ticket. And now the Aldabra folks are back with Aldabra 2 – literally, that’s its name – which leads immediately to your thoughts about Godfather 2 (wasn’t it only #1 and #3 that were masterpieces?), but which seemed worth my mentioning anyway. I bought a bunch last week at $1.43. Yesterday, the warrant closed at $1.47. The structure with this one is similar to the original, except that each ‘unit‘ carries with it one warrant instead of two (which may be why the warrants cost about double what they did the first time) . . . that allows you to buy the stock at $7.50 (instead of $5) . . . and that can be the subject of a forced conversion if the underlying stock trades at $14.50 (instead $8.50). So if it doesn’t work out, you lose $1.43 (or whatever you paid for the warrants), and if it does, the warrants go to about $7 (because with the stock at $14.50, if it ever gets there, the right to buy it at $7.50 is worth about $7). As before, you can’t exercise the warrants right away. But, as before, you have years before the warrants expire. (About four years in this case.) So basically, this is a bet that the same folks who did okay the first time will find a way to do okay the second time. If they don’t, you lose everything. If they do, you roughly quintuple your money (before long-term capital gains tax if held more than a year and a day).