Black Spade, backed by Melco’s chairman and chief executive Lawrence Ho Yau-lung, as well as BOCHK Asset Management, has applied to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange (HKEX), according to a filing.
SPACs are created – and typically anchored by well-known public figures, including celebrities, sports icons and famous entrepreneurs – with the objective of raising capital to buy assets within a period. In Hong Kong, a SPAC needs to raise at least HK$1 billion (US$128 million) and must announce a deal within 24 months.
Ho, whose net worth was estimated by Forbes at US$1.25 billion last month, is the 46th richest man in Hong Kong. He is the son of the late Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun, who died in May 2020.
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This is not the first listing for Ho’s SPAC. Black Spade Capital, his investment arm, raised US$169 million in an IPO in New York in July 2021.
Black Spade Capital, established in 2017, is Ho’s private investment vehicle, with a portfolio of diversified asset classes and companies in information technology, medical and green energy in the Greater China region. It had been managing assets with a combined value of not less than HK$8 billion for the past three years as of December 2021, according to the stock exchange filing.
Black Spade Asia Acquisition aims to acquire a company that “can benefit from the collective network, knowledge and experience of [its] promoters” and that “is related to, or is in the entertainment, lifestyle and health care industry,” according to its listing application.
Why is Hong Kong considering allowing SPACs to list in the city?
UBS is the sole sponsor of Black Spade Asia Acquisition, the third SPAC sponsored by the Swiss lender.
SPACs had been the hottest worldwide fundraising trend for start-ups since 2020, raising US$81 billion in 2020 and US$139 billion as of October last year, most of the capital being raised in the United States, according to Refinitiv’s data.
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