Matt Proud-led SPAC makes good on threat to terminate combination with UniUni

Matthew Proud’s special purpose acquisition company has made good on its threat to pull out of a proposed combination with last-mile delivery company UniUni.

The Toronto Stock Exchange-listed SPAC, called MAK Acquisition Corp. MAK-U-T on Tuesday delivered a notice of termination to UniUni, officially known as Uni Express Inc., of a May purchase agreement between the two entities. Mr. Proud, the former chief executive officer of the chronically governance- and debt-challenged Toronto legal software company Dye & Durham Ltd., is CEO of MAK.

MAK warned in a notice of breach last month to UniUni that it could pull out of the deal, stating that the delivery company hadn’t lived up to its commitment under their combination agreement “to operate its business within certain specific parameters” including limiting its pretax loss to a defined maximum cumulative amount.

UniUni said in a release last month after receiving the notice of breach that it had entered into a term sheet – a non-binding preliminary deal agreement – for a new private funding round led by an existing investor to support its continued growth.

The delivery company said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday it was “aware of MAK’s announcement. UniUni remains focused on serving our customers” and is “moving forward with the funding round from within our existing shareholder base to pursue our growth opportunities, and we value the continued confidence in our future.”

Matthew Proud-led SPAC threatens to pull out of merger with delivery company UniUni

MAK, meanwhile, said it will renew its search for a new acquisition target, stating that it is seeking “niche-market businesses providing critical solutions, with strong revenue retention and diversified customer bases.” Mr. Proud, chief executive officer of MAK, has separately led successful activist campaigns against publicly traded Canadian technology companies Calian Group Ltd., Information Services Corp., and his former employer Dye & Durham Ltd. since departing the company in late 2024.

MAK and UniUni announced their proposed deal five months ago that would have valued the combined entity at more than US$1-billion. Under the terms, MAK would submit to a reverse takeover by UniUni, based in Richmond, B.C. UniUni, led by CEO Peter Lu, operates a low-cost, last-mile delivery service that focuses on high-volume, low-margin Asian e-commerce merchants Shein, Temu and TikTok.

According to the prospectus filed in June, UniUni had been growing at a torrid pace, generating US$679.4-million of revenue in 2025, up from US$294.5-million in 2024. Revenue in the first quarter was US$191.5-million, up 74 per cent year-over-year, and UniUni said it expected to generate US$1.1-billion in revenue in 2026.

That makes UniUni one of Canada’s largest technology or technology-enabled private companies by revenue. It ranked as the fifth-fastest growing tech company in Canada in last year’s Deloitte Fast 50 list.

Last-mile delivery giant UniUni to go public in merger with SPAC led by Matthew Proud

However, the company is also deeply unprofitable. It lost US$74.7-million in 2024, US$118-million in 2025 and another US$98.8-million in the first quarter of 2026, according to the prospectus.

In materials circulated to investors earlier this year, UniUni stated that it expected to become profitable this year and generate US$125-million in pretax profits in 2027. The company said this is because of a growing share of its business coming from higher-margin North American shippers, plus gains from cost efficiencies and higher volumes. The company delivered 265 million parcels in the 12 months ended March 31.

Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, are publicly traded companies created to acquire or merge with an existing company.

MAK went public last year, raising $100-million in its initial public offering. MAK investors that don’t want to support whatever deal it consummates can redeem their units, and all will be fully refunded if the company can’t consummate a combination with another company by April, 2027, both features of SPAC deals. The cash raised by MAK has been held in trust and whatever isn’t redeemed would go to the coffers of the combined company if a deal were to proceed.

Alongside the merger, the parties had also conditionally raised US$100-million in an offering known as a private investment in public equity, which would only have proceeded if the deal closed.