TPG Blank-Check Company to Combine With Playa Hotels & Resorts
13 Décembre 2016 - 4:50AM
Dow Jones News
A blank-check company formed by private-equity firm TPG has
agreed to combine with Playa Hotels & Resorts BV, creating a
public company with a market value about $1.1 billion, according to
people familiar with the matter.
TPG's Pace Holdings Corp. will put the $450 million it raised
last year in an initial public offering toward the deal, which is
expected to be announced as soon as this week, the people said.
Including debt, the deal values the hotel company at $1.75
billion.
Playa Hotels' move to go public through a blank-check company
follows similar deals earlier this year by snack-cake maker Hostess
Brands Inc. and oil-and-gas producer Centennial Resource
Development Inc. Playa, founded in 2013 by Chief Executive Bruce
Wardinski, filed paperwork for an IPO last year.
Blank-check companies, also called special-purpose acquisition
companies, or SPACs, use stock offerings to raise cash that they
later use to spend on acquisitions. Buyers of the shares
essentially bet on the SPAC's managers to find an attractive
deal.
SPACs proliferated in the run-up to the financial crisis, when
many were forced to liquidate as investors voted down proposed
deals and took back their cash. But they've staged a comeback in
recent years thanks to robust demand for stocks and a lackluster
market for traditional IPOs.
Blank-check companies have raised $3.48 billion so far this
year, according to Dealogic. In 2015, SPACs raised $3.89 billion an
eight-year high.
Wilbur Ross's WL Ross & Co., energy-focused Riverstone
Holdings LLC and other private-equity firms have formed SPACs in
recent years, moving beyond their traditional model of raising
pools of capital from pension funds and other investors. Some
firms, including TPG, also have formed so-called business
development corporations, which sell shares to public investors to
raise money to lend to businesses.
TPG tapped one of its own, deal-maker Karl Peterson, to lead
Pace. Mr. Peterson partnered with six major airlines to help found
discount travel-booking site Hotwire.com with funding from TPG.
InterActive Corp. bought Hotwire.com in 2003 for $665 million. He's
also on the board of TPG-backed travel-technology company Sabre
Holdings Corp.
Mr. Peterson is slated to join Playa's board and help it develop
direct-to-consumer online marketing for its high-end all-inclusive
resorts, according to people familiar with the matter. All told,
TPG will get to choose three of the company's 10 directors, the
people said.
Write to Matt Jarzemsky at matthew.jarzemsky@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 12, 2016 22:35 ET (03:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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