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While the Spac boom in the USA is ebbing a bit, the business with the wallets in Europe is gaining momentum.
For
example, the
former Unicredit boss
Jean-Pierre Mustier
(60), after successfully placing his Spac (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) with half a billion euros in the till, can go looking for a company from the financial sector to take over.
One of the four sponsors, the listed French investor Tikehau Capital, announced that Mustier's trading shell, called Pegasus Capital, has collected 500 million euros from investors.
Photo: Remo Casilli / REUTERS
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The Pegasus-Spac is listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.
Behind Pegasus is also Financière Agache, the private asset management company of
Bernard Arnault
(72), major shareholder of the luxury group LVMH and the richest French.
Photo: BENOIT TESSIER / REUTERS
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In
addition to Frankfurt, the
trading center in
Amsterdam
(pictured) is a hotspot for the European Spac business.
London, on the other hand, has not yet been in the running: According to a report by the "Handelsblatt", a local stock exchange rule according to which Spacs would initially be suspended from stock trading after the takeover of companies is still unattractive for this business.
Photo: PIROSCHKA VAN DE WOUW / REUTERS
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Amsterdam and Frankfurt, on the other hand, can look forward to more Spac IPOs for the time being.
According to "Handelsblatt", Deutsche Börse expects up to 30 such IPOs from blank companies across Europe this year.
Other experts expect even higher numbers.
In Frankfurt, up to 20 SPACs could go public by the end of the year.
Photo: Thomas Lohnes / Getty Images
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If a Spac IPO occurs, a prominent name from the financial sector is usually associated with it.
Because numerous managers of banks and investment companies are currently active as initiators of Spacs.
The former Commerzbank boss and UBS manager
Martin Blessing
(57) brought such a takeover vehicle to the Amsterdam Stock Exchange at the end of March and collected 415 million euros for it.
Photo: RALPH ORLOWSKI / REUTERS
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According to a Bloomberg report,
the former Allianz CFO
Dieter Wemmer
(here on the left next to Allianz CEO
Oliver Bäte
) plans to collect around 250 million euros for a Spac in the insurance sector in May.
Photo: DPA
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The Spac coat of 468 Capital, the fund of the former Rocket Internet board member
Alexander Kudlich
, was recently listed on the German stock exchange in Frankfurt
.
For initiators like Kudlich, Spacs are attractive because they are rewarded for their effort, as they usually get 20 percent of the empty wallet without taking any money into their own hands.
After the IPO, they have two years to find a company that will be merged with Spac.
If the managers fail, the investors get their money back.
Photo: imago images / STPP
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It all started in February with
Klaus Hommels
(54).
The venture capital investor from Zurich, who used to be known for his involvement with Skype, Facebook or Xing, mobilized 275 million euros for Germany's first Spac in a long time.
His shell company Lakestar Spac I has since been looking for a takeover target in the tech sector.
Photo: Horacio Villalobos / Corbis via Getty Images
cr / Reuters