Mubadala Capital’s SPAC’s IPO raises $200m

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The units of the new entity targeting media, entertainment, and tech will be listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market in the US and trade under the ticker symbol “BWCAU”.

Dubai - Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one-fourth of a warrant, exercisable at $11.50.

Issac John

Published: Wed 4 Aug 2021, 6:14 PM

Last updated: Wed 4 Aug 2021, 6:16 PM

Blue Whale Acquisition Corp I, a new special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) formed by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Capital, announced on Wednesday that it raised $200 million by offering 20 million units at $10 per unit.

The units of the new entity targeting media, entertainment, and tech will be listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market in the US and trade under the ticker symbol “BWCAU” beginning on August 4, 2021.

Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one-fourth of a warrant, exercisable at $11.50.

The new company aims to combine with a high quality business in the media or entertainment industry that has a simple business model.

Mubadala Capital is the asset management subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company, a leading global sovereign investor headquartered in Abu Dhabi, with more than $243 billion of assets under management.

Blue Whale Acquisition Corp is led by Maxime Franzetti, head of Public Equities and SPACs at Mubadala Capital; Adib Mattar, head of Private Equity at Mubadala Capital; and Russ Pillar, founder and executive chairman of Reigning Champs, the world’s largest NCAA-compliant path-to-college company for student-athletes, and senior advisor to Mubadala Capital.

Total SPAC deal count for 2021 year-to-date is now 391. This offering is expected to close on Friday, August 6.

The company aims to leverage management's experience to target businesses that benefit from the growth of connected devices and digital streaming services.

Goldman Sachs & Co. and BofA Securities are acting as book-running managers in the offering. The company has granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to three million additional units at the initial public offering price to cover over-allotments, if any.

In addition to managing its own balance sheet investments, Mubadala Capital manages $9 billion in third-party capital vehicles on behalf of institutional investors in each of its businesses, including three private equity funds, two early stage venture funds, a public fund and a fund in Brazil focused on special situations.

Mubadala Capital, which has a long track record of successfully identifying category leaders suitable for investment, especially in media, entertainment, and premium content and services sectors, invests across a range of asset classes including private equity, public equity and venture capital. Each business employs a fundamentals-driven investment strategy, prioritizing capital preservation and long-term value creation.

Representative transactions the firm has consummated in the recent past include EMI Music Publishing (acquired in 2012 and successfully exited in 2018, making Mubadala Capital one of the few institutional investors to successfully structure, purchase and exit a major music asset in the last decade), Endeavor (acquired in 2014), Reigning Champs (acquired in 2014), Imagine Entertainment (acquired in 2016), YES Network (acquired in 2019) and Looping Group (acquired in 2019). In total, these transactions and others in the media, entertainment and premium content and services sectors represent more than $1 billion of capital deployed. — issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com