WeWork to go public in $9bn Spac deal - report
WeWork has agreed to merge with a blank cheque company in a deal that would take the shared-office group public almost two years after the collapse of its initial public offering, according to a report.
The planned merger with BowX Acquisition, a special-purpose acquisition company (Spac), would value We Work at $9bn (£6.5bn) including debt, the Wall Street Journal reported. We Work would also raise $1.3bn, including $800m from a so-called private investment in public equity from Insight Partners, Starwood Capital, Fidelity and others, the Journal said.
WeWork is tapping the Spac boom to secure a public listing after investors refused to back the loss-making company when it attempted an IPO in 2019. The company was taken over by SoftBank, its biggest investor, and founder and chief executive Adam Neumann quit.
Spacs are acquisition vehicles set up to take private companies public without the cost and hassle of an IPO. The companies raised more funds in the first quarter of 2021 than in all of 2020. On 17 March 264 Spacs had been launched in 2021 compared with 256 in 2020.
Blank cheque companies usually have two years to buy a target using proceeds from investors once they are set up. David Solomon, Goldman Sachs's chief executive, said in January the Spac boom was not sustainable in the medium term.