Latham & Watkins Advises Merlin, Inc. in Business Combination With Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. IV

Merlin, Inc., an aerospace and defense technology company building the operating system of record for autonomous flight, announced the closing of its business combination with Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. IV, a SPAC led and backed by the management team of Inflection Point Asset Management (Inflection Point). The transaction provides approximately US$200 million in gross proceeds, including a fully committed PIPE anchored by Inflection Point, existing Merlin investors, including Baillie Gifford, and several new institutional investors. The deal values Merlin at US$800 million pre-money. The business combination was approved by Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. IV stockholders in a special meeting held on March 12, 2026 and formally closed on March 16, 2026. On March 17, 2026, the combined company will begin trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “MRLN.”

Latham & Watkins LLP represents Merlin in the transaction with a corporate deal team led by New York/Boston partner Stephen Ranere and New York/Houston partner John Slater, with associates Erik Thompson, Michael Pioso, and Elizabeth Gemdjian. Advice was also provided on M&A matters by Houston partner Nick Dhesi; on capital markets matters by associates Paul Robe, Caitlyn Fiebrich, Don Izekor, and Logan McDowell; on compensation and benefits matters by Los Angeles/Orange County partner Michelle Carpenter, with associates Julie Voorhes and Erica Shin; on intellectual property matters by Boston partner Deborah Hinck; on tax matters by Houston partner Jared Grimley, with associate Joseph Marcus; and on public company representation matters by Washington, D.C. partner William Hackett and New York counsel Irina Yevmenenko, with associate Sara Almousa.