Tishman Speyer Agrees to Settle Latch Inc. Blank-Check Deal Case

Tishman Speyer Properties LP affiliates, including co-founder Jerry Speyer, have agreed to resolve litigation challenging their blank-check merger to take Latch Inc. public.

The billionaire developer and other architects of the transaction disclosed a settlement in principle to end the shareholder case, which targeted sponsors of the special purpose acquisition company that combined with Latch, a manufacturer of smart locks and building management software. Latch itself wasn’t named as a defendant.

The proposed class action was part of a wave of litigation challenging mergers with SPACs—a type of publicly traded shell entity—designed to let startups bypass initial public offerings. ...