Tikehau Capital submits application to SGX for S$200m SPAC IPO

Singapore

EUROPEAN asset manager Tikehau Capital, together with partner Financiere Agache, on Tuesday (Oct 26) submitted an initial public offering (IPO) application to list a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), according to people familiar with the matter.

The application is to raise S$200 million for the SPAC - Pegasus Asia - but this is a placeholder amount and the eventual amount raised from the IPO could be larger, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is confidential.

The submission is likely among the first applications for a Singapore SPAC, with the framework for listing blank-cheque companies having been rolled out in early September.

Last month, SGX said it could receive its first SPAC submission in weeks. Market participants had also told The Business Times that there is keen interest in Singapore SPACs, and expected the first SPACs to come to market by the end of this year.

For its business combination, Pegasus Asia will be focused on technology-enabled new economy sectors that have operations in Asia-Pacific. This could include fintech, proptech, insurtech and digital services.

According to the sources, the chief executive of the SPAC will be Neil Parekh, Tikehau Capital's head of Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Citibank and UBS are the joint issue managers for the SPAC, while OCBC and UOB Kay Hian are the joint bookrunners and underwriters. KPMG will be appointed auditor for the SGX-listed SPAC. Singapore Institute of Directors chairman Wong Su-Yen will also be among the independent directors.

This would mark the second time Tikehau Capital and Financiere Agache - LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault's family office - are partnering on a SPAC. Earlier this year, the sponsor group had raised a 500 million euro (S$782 million) SPAC - Pegasus Europe - on Euronext Amsterdam.

Tikehau Capital is an alternative asset manager with 30.9 billion euros in assets under management as at end-June. Its key areas of focus include private equity and debt, as well as real assets. The Financiere Agache group has significant dealings in the luxury goods sector via its controlling shareholdings in Christian Dior and LVMH. It also holds a portfolio of diversified financial investments.

The introduction of SPACs in Singapore could provide a much needed boost to the local capital markets, where the amount raised in IPOs this year has lagged behind regional exchanges such as Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

It comes amid a broader push by the government to make the public equity markets here more conductive for growth companies.

SPACs are shell entities formed by a group of investors known as sponsors who raise capital via an IPO. The shell company has a set timeframe to identify and acquire a target company - known as a business combination or de-SPAC - which will result in taking the target company public.

The structure has seen more popularity in the US this year, and proponents have noted that growth companies prefer SPACs, for the greater certainty of price and execution.

Other players also said to be interested in SGX SPACs include other private equity firms Novo Tellus Capital Partners, Quadria Capital and Temasek-backed Vertex Holdings.

Apart from sponsors, local private companies have also expressed interest in the SPAC framework, and have said that they are open to the possibility of merging with SGX-listed SPACs to go public.