Sternlicht’s Blank-Check IPO Is Said to Raise $600 Million

A special purpose acquisition company co-founded by billionaire real estate executive Barry Sternlicht has expanded its initial public offering again to raise $600 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Jaws Acquisition Corp., a so-called blank-check company, aims to list on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The Miami Beach, Florida-based company had filed a prospectus Monday to increase the offering to $500 million from $400 million. That filing features that amount superimposed on a photo of a toothy, open-mouthed shark.

Jaws will target companies in growth-oriented industries and won’t compete with Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group, which focuses on real estate, lodging, oil and gas and energy infrastructure, according to the company’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

A representative for Jaws declined to comment.

Sternlicht is the chairman of Jaws and its other co-founder is Chief Executive Officer Joe Dowling, who also runs Brown University’s endowment. The company’s directors include Doug Ostrover, a founder of Blackstone Group Inc.’s credit arm, GSO Capital Partners.

Asset manager Falcon Edge Capital, which manages $3.2 billion, is one of the firms that bought shares in the Jaws IPO.

“Barry Sternlicht is a visionary entrepreneur and it will be exciting to see the deal he finds,” Falcon Edge Chairman Rick Gerson said in an emailed statement.

Blank-check companies are having a moment with higher-profile sponsors getting involved in the deals, partly in response to the extreme volatility brought on by the pandemic that has crippled the rest of the IPO market. Such companies, also known as SPACs, have raised $6.48 billion in 21 listings this year in the U.S., compared with $4.9 billion for the same number of listings during the same period in 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The Jaws offering is being led by Credit Suisse Group AG, Morgan Stanleyand Citigroup Inc. The shares, which had a set price of $10 each, are expected to trade under the symbol JWS/U.

Source: Bloomberg

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