MIAMI – Jan. 10, 2022 – Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, P.A. set itself apart again in 2021 advising clients on a record $41.7 billion in Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) transactions, more than twice the volume of SPAC-related transactions the firm handled in the previous year.
Led by Alan I. Annex, co-chair of Greenberg Traurig’s Global Corporate Practice, the firm advised clients on 38 initial public offerings (IPOs) raising more than $8.4 billion and leading to 12 business combinations, which created businesses valued at more than $33.2 billion. There are an additional four business combinations announced in 2021 that have yet to close, with a combined enterprise value of $7.75 billion. Among the IPO transactions, Greenberg Traurig served as advisor to 14 underwriters working on SPAC IPOs including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Cowen, and Mizuho Securities.
“While the frenetic pace we saw this year may slow slightly in 2022, SPAC offerings and their accompanying business combinations will continue to appeal to institutional and other investors looking for opportunities, as well as companies seeking funds for future growth,” said Annex, who is an architect of the SPAC structure, first seen in the early 1990s, and is internationally recognized for providing legal counsel on SPAC transactions. “Don’t be surprised to see high-quality repeat SPAC sponsors make a second and third trip to the market to raise cash and then invest, a trend we started to see in 2021. We may also see more target companies approach SPACs as a way of raising cash for an acquisition.”
The capital raised through the SPAC IPOs that Greenberg Traurig led in 2021 was later used to acquire companies working in a variety of cutting-edge industries including electric vehicles, fintech, healthcare services, at-home fitness, telecommunications, and online gaming. SPACs have one or two years to complete their acquisitions after launching their IPOs.
Greenberg Traurig assisted eight SPACs as they completed their acquisitions and represented four companies as they negotiated mergers with SPACs this year. Annex and his team advised United Wholesale Mortgage in its merger with Gores Holdings IV in a transaction valued at approximately $16 billion, considered the largest SPAC transaction ever. The firm also represented Arrival, a British developer of electric vehicles focusing on the commercial market, in its merger with CIIG Merger Group initially valued at $5.4 billion.
Greenberg Traurig also continued its role as a leader in SPAC transactions in Latin America and Europe, pairing investors with high-growth target companies looking for capital to fuel their continued development. Greenberg Traurig participated in some of the most significant transactions in this market in 2021, including the $1.3 billion acquisition of Procaps, the Colombian based pharmaceutical and healthcare company acquired by Union Acquisition Corp. and the $350 million of acquisition of Codere Online by DD3 Acquisition Corp. II, which created the first Latin American online gaming operator to be publicly traded in the U.S.
“As investors look for attractive valuations, they will look to Latin America and Europe as well as the U.S. in their quest for growth companies,” Annex added.
In 2019 Annex moved from New York, where he practiced for 32 years, to Miami, where he continues to lead cross office and cross border teams on significant transactions. “I followed the clients and made Miami my home. It’s great to help continue the tradition in the office where the firm was founded nearly 55 years ago.”
In 2021, Greenberg Traurig also represented:
- Tuscan Holdings Corp. in its merger with Microvast Inc., a designer of electric vehicle batteries. The deal, which valued the combined company at $3 billion, provided Microvast with a war chest of working capital: $282 million from Tuscan’s IPO and $540 million from a common-stock private investment in public equity or PIPE financing.
- Myx Fitness Holdings, LLC in a three-way deal with Forest Road Acquisition Corp., The transaction took Myx Fitness, an at-home connected fitness platform, and The Beachbody Company Group, LLC, a live and on-demand fitness and nutritional solutions provider, public via Forest Road in a deal valued at $2.9 billion.
- Foresight Acquisition Corp. in its merger with P3 Health Partners, a Nevada company that provides Medicare Advantage health-care plans, in a transaction that gave the combined company an enterprise valued of $2.3 billion. The transaction included $200 million in private investment in public equity, or PIPE, and $200 million in cash proceeds.
- InterPrivate Acquisition Corp. in its $2.1 billion merger with Aeva, Inc., a developer of lidar chips which are used to measure distance in autonomous cars and have applications across the consumer electronics, health, industrial and security markets. The business combination provided Aeva with cash proceeds of $560 million for continued development.
- EverArc Holdings Limited, a UK-listed cash shell, in its acquisition of SK Invictus Holdings S.à.r.l., the ultimate parent company of Perimeter Solutions LP, a leading global manufacturer of high-quality firefighting products and lubricant additives. The transaction was valued at approximately $2 billion.
About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2,300 attorneys in 40 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 25 on the Am Law Global 100. The firm is net carbon neutral with respect to its office energy usage and Mansfield Rule 4.0 Plus Certified. Web: www.gtlaw.com