New World's Adrian Cheng is said to plan up to US$400m SPAC

[HONG KONG] New World Development Co's Adrian Cheng is planning to raise funds through a special purpose acquisition company in the US, according to people familiar with the matter, making him the latest Hong Kong tycoon to jump on the blank-check firm bandwagon.

Mr Cheng is working with advisers on the potential SPAC's initial public offering, said the people, asking not to be identified as the information isn't public. The blank-check company could raise US$200 million to US$400 million, one of the people said.

Deliberations are at an early stage and details such as size and strategy could still change, they said. A representative for New World said the company had no immediate comment.

Mr Cheng, who's the chief executive officer of New World, joins fellow Hong Kong tycoons Li Ka-shing and Richard Li in planning a blank-check company, tapping what has become a red-hot market in the US with over US$60 billion raised through the vehicles, more than half of the total amount fetched in all of 2020, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

SPACs raise money from investors and then look to acquire another business, usually a private one, within two years. Historically just a US product, a growing number of Asia-based funds and financiers have been setting up blank-check companies with the aim of snapping up a target in the fast-growing region.

So far this year, eight blank-check companies backed by Asian sponsors including Primavera Capital and Hopu Investment have gone public in the US, raising a total of US$2.42 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That's an acceleration from 2020, when 11 Asian SPACs raised US$2.26 billion in the whole year.

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New World Development, whose businesses span across real estate, retail and infrastructure, is also looking for a senior executive to oversee its merger and acquisition activities in areas such as health care and logistics as it expands beyond property, Bloomberg News reported this month.

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