Hambro Perks looks to be first out of the gate with £150m London SPAC listing
VC firm Hambro Perks has today announced it is targeting a listing of up to £150m in London via a special purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC), in what could make it the first out of the gate since the City watchdog overhauled blank-cheque listing rules.
Hambro Perks Acquisition Company – the name of the SPAC – intends to sell 14m units at £10 a piece, or 15m if an over-allotment option is exercised in full. Each of the units comprises one share and the right to receive half of a public warrant, it said in a statement today.
In a strategy aimed at investing in “proven tech winners” hailing from the UK and Europe, the firm said it will merge with a “high-performing, later-stage technology-enabled business”, within the SPAC’s initial 15-month duration.
It will have the option to extend by three months up to two times, and Citigroup is the bookrunner and sole global coordinator of the planned listing.
It comes after the FCA introduced new rules in August aimed at to making it less costly for investors to acquire holdings in SPACs listed in the UK, in a bid to make the City a more attractive prospect for tech listings, and to catch up with rival European markets like Amsterdam as they enjoy a blank-cheque boom.
Under the new rules – which follow the key recommendations of Lord Hill’s review of the UK listing regime post-Brexit – investors have more freedom to exit before an acquisition is complete, rather than be locked in as soon as the target was announced, as was the case before the FCA overhaul.
Hambro Perks is headed up by co-founder Dominic Perks, who previously worked as a consultant at McKinsey and an investment banker at Morgan Stanley, and the firm’s investment portfolio includes retail investing app PrimaryBid, location finder What3Words, and investment app Moneybox.
“We’ve chosen to list HPAC in London because it’s the technology capital of Europe,” Perks said.
“The number of Unicorns in the UK and Europe has grown significantly over recent years as we have seen a migration of talent and capital to private growth companies.
“We see this SPAC as another way to leverage our experience and expand the range of tools we use to do what we do best: helping game-changing companies with global ambition fulfil their potential,” Perks added.