What a busy week in the world of media liquidity.
This is a sentence that you won’t often get to write. Regardless, news broke this week that Axel Springer is buying U.S. political journalism outfit POLITICO. Although the transaction was anticipated, it still raises eyebrows due to its eye-popping $1 billion cost. We even got on the podcast to chat about it.
And Forbes announced that it is going public via a SPAC. This news is part of BuzzFeed’s path to public markets via a blank check company. Is this hot media liquidity summer Similar.
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It is important to remember that TechCrunch is currently being sold to private equity. We owe a shoutout to Verizon bankers, who were able to sell us and reduce Verizon’s debt. Ten points.
I want to take a quick tour of the Forbes SPAC deck this morning. Our notes on BuzzFeed’s are here, in case you want to run comparisons. It will be fun and easy. This is the perfect Friday morning meal. Get into the data
How much is it worth?
Forbes Global Media Holdings will merge with Magnum Opus Acquisition Limited, a blank-check company. The transaction will close either Q4 2021 or Q1 2022, Forbes estimates.
The scale of the deal is modest compared to other SPAC deals that we have looked at. Forbes claims that the deal will have an implied pro forma enterprise worth $630 million after completion, net of any tax benefits. Forbes reports that Magnum Opus funds will generate $600 million in net proceeds and $400 million through private placements of ordinary shares.
According to its calculations, the company’s equity value will be $830 million upon closing. This number could change depending on the redemptions that occur before the merger. Due to $440 million of secondary transactions by existing Forbes shareholders, the gap between large sums going into the deal with the low final value of public Forbes entities is approximately $440 million.
In case you’d prefer all of that in table form, here’s the Forbes investor deck:
Image Credits: Forbes SPAC deck
Is $830 million a fair price? Let’s dig into Forbes’ results.
Publited at Fri 27 August 2021, 13:28.45 +0000
