LONDON, UK: Hambro Perks Acquisition Company (HPAC), a special purpose acquisition vehicle sponsored by Hambro Perks Limited announced its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange. HPAC intends to raise up to £150 million through the listing.
Hambro Perks was founded in 2013 with the aim of providing capital and hands-on support to innovative and fast-growing technology-enabled companies. The strategy has seen Hambro Perks partner with some of the most pioneering and ambitious companies in the UK and Europe.
Dominic Perks, CEO of HPAC, said: “I am delighted to launch our first SPAC and start the process of bringing a European tech champion to the public market. At Hambro Perks we have a track record of finding and partnering with pioneering tech-enabled businesses and helping them grow into global category leaders.
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.
We’ve chosen to list HPAC in London because it’s the technology capital of Europe. 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. Investors want to back differentiated, scalable businesses with great leadership, and those are exactly the characteristics we’ll be seeking in our target.”
Sir Anthony Salz, Chairman of HPAC, said: “Hambro Perks is proud of the quality of the businesses and entrepreneurs it has invested in and supported. This SPAC is a natural extension of our existing investment strategy, enabling more established tech businesses to scale up by accessing public markets.
The experience of our Board and the wider Hambro Perks team, together with our extensive network of relationships across Europe, gives us confidence that we will find a suitable target.”
Most emerging technology-enabled companies are privately held, meaning investors have limited access to some of the most innovative and highest-returning opportunities. Equally, many technology-enabled companies find it difficult to access appropriate late-stage funding and to list on public markets.
HPAC believes there is a compelling opportunity to generate shareholder value by investing in proven ‘tech winners’ emerging from the UK and Europe.
It will leverage its full platform – including its international sourcing network, proprietary pipeline, investment team, executive team, board of directors and special advisors – to identify, select and enter into a business combination with a high-performing, later-stage technology-enabled business within an initial period of 15 months from the settlement date, subject to two three-month extension periods, if required and approved by a shareholder vote.
Potential targets will have the opportunity to benefit from access to Hambro Perks’ strategic, operational and back-office expertise, and global networks of advisors and investment professionals.
Hambro Perks has a proven track record of investing in technology-enabled businesses through various market cycles. Hambro Perks focuses on companies that are disrupters in their category, composed of high potential entrepreneurs and management teams which are able to scale.
This strategy is underpinned by a simple, repeatable method of displaying greater speed and conviction in identifying potential opportunities (Find), winning the confidence of entrepreneurs and management teams (Partner) and making targeted interventions that support and encourage rapid growth in company value (Grow).
The impact of this strategy is evident in Hambro Perks’ portfolio of investments which stands at more than 100 portfolio companies. These include Gelesis, Muzmatch, What3Words, PrimaryBid, Moneybox, and Vedanta Bioscience.
To capitalise on the opportunities in the market, HPAC intends to focus on the technology-enabled sector and businesses with principal operations in the United Kingdom, a member state of the EEA or Switzerland, seeking to leverage its experience and sourcing capabilities as well as the advice and expertise of its Board to create value for its shareholders.
The companies being considered for a business combination by HPAC will have an attractive market in the UK and Europe, differentiation amongst competitors, impressive innovation capabilities, scalable revenues, a strong management team, attractive valuations, a fit for public markets and strong ESG credentials.
The Company expects to implement a business combination where the valuation of the target business is £800 million or more. This SPAC is the first to be launched on the London Stock Exchange with a structure reflecting the FCA’s new SPAC rules which came into force on 10 August 2021, based on the recommendations from Lord Hill’s UK Listings Review which are focused on providing additional protections for shareholders.
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