PepsiCo : REFILE-Perella Weinberg to go public via $975-million deal with Betsy Cohen's SPAC
December 30, 2020 at 12:19 pm
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Dec 30 (Reuters) - Boutique investment bank Perella Weinberg
Partners on Wednesday agreed to go public through a merger with
a blank-check firm, or a special purpose acquisition company
(SPAC), backed by banking entrepreneur Betsy Cohen in a deal
valued at $975 million.
Cohen's FinTech Acquisition Corporation IV, which had raised
$230 million in September through an initial public offering
(IPO), will acquire Perella Weinberg in a deal that includes a
commitment of $125 million from investors such as Fidelity
Management and Wellington Management.
The merged entity will list on the Nasdaq under the symbol
'PWP', the companies said in a statement. The deal is expected
to close in the first half of 2021, pending approvals.
Perella Weinberg has been part of some of the biggest deals
in the United States in the past few years, including the
$3.2-billion buyout of SodaStream by PepsiCo and
American International Group's $5.56 billion acquisition
of reinsurer Validus Holdings.
The investment bank was founded by veteran Wall Street
bankers Joseph Perella, Peter Weinberg and Terry Meguid in 2006.
Separately, Perella Weinberg had said it was planning an IPO of
its blank-check firm PWP Forward Acquisition Corp I, which will
be led by Stacia Schlosser Ryan.
SPACs raise funds in an IPO with the aim of buying a private
company and have become immensely popular investment vehicles
this year. The acquired company then becomes public as result of
the merger and it is an alternative to the traditional IPO
process.
At least 208 SPACs have raised more than $70 billion so far
this year, according to SPAC Research.
Besides Cohen, the founder of Jefferson Bank and Bancorp Inc,
other prominent businesswomen such as Joanna Coles too have
taken their SPACs public.
(Reporting by Anirban Sen in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
PepsiCo, Inc. is one of the worldwide leaders in producing non-alcoholic beverages and snacks. Net sales break down by area of activity as follows:
- North America (60.8%): sale of beverages (49.7% of net sales; sodas, concentrated juices, water, tea and coffee-based beverages; Aquafina, Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Gatorade, Gatorade Zero, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Propel brands, etc.), snacks (44.7%; chips, tortillas and pretzels; Lay's, Doritos, Tostitos, Cheetos, Fritos, Ruffles, etc.), and cereals (5.6%; ready-to-eat cereals, rice, wheat, etc.);
- Europe (14.5%): sale of snacks (Cheetos, Chipita, Doritos, Lay's, Ruffles and Walkers brands) and beverages (7UP, Diet Pepsi, Lubimy Sad, Mirinda, Pepsi and Pepsi Max);
- Latin America (12.7%): sales of snacks (Cheetos, Doritos, Emperador, Lay's, Mabel, Marias Gamesa, Ruffles, Sabritas, Saladitas and Tostitos brands) and beverages (7UP, Gatorade, H2oh!, Manzanita Sol, Mirinda, Pepsi, Pepsi Black, San Carlos and Toddy)
- Asia/Pacific/Australia/New Zealand (6.7%): sale of snacks (BaiCaoWei, Cheetos, Doritos, Lay's and Smith's brands), beverages and syrups (7UP, Aquafina, Mirinda, Mountain Dew, Pepsi and Sting);
- Africa/Middle East/South Asia (5.3%): sale of snacks (Chipsy, Doritos, Kurkure, Lay's, Sasko, Spekko and White Star brands) and beverages (7UP, Aquafina, Mirinda, Mountain Dew and Pepsi).
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: the United States (57%), Mexico (7.7%), Canada (4.1%), Russia (3.9%), China (3%), the United Kingdom (2.1%), Brazil (1.9%), South Africa (1.9%) and other (18.4%).