MILAN – There’s a brand new SPAC in Europe, promoted by luxurious veteran Francesco Trapani.
The London-based VAM Investments personal fairness holding, chaired by Trapani, has fashioned VAM Investments SPAC B.V., centered on client services and products. It is launching in the present day, and till July 16 is e book constructing for as much as 225 million euros and is requesting admission to itemizing and buying and selling on Euronext Amsterdam.
VAM Investments will straight spend money on the Special Purpose Acquisition Company, as much as 10.25 million euros.
“A SPAC is a tool that is relatively recent in Europe and that will allow us to put the skills of the team, and my direct experience in luxury with Bulgari, LVMH and Tiffany, at the service of a big company that intends to access the public market,” mentioned Trapani, who expressed his eagerness to “start working to select the best company for our SPAC.”
The firm will eye investments in luxurious, together with design furnishings; client companies, together with inns and resorts, meals, leisure and media; on-line retail, magnificence and private care, together with well being and wellness, bodily retail and way of life.
“The post-COVID recovery in Europe offers important opportunities to grow organically, and through acquisitions, for those companies that have weathered the crisis and compete in a global context,” continued Trapani, named chairman of the SPAC.
He touted the “extraordinary experience, international network and complementary skills” of the group, which incorporates, Marco Piana as chief government officer and Carlo di Biagio as chief monetary officer. Di Biagio additionally depends on 30 years of expertise in management roles starting from monetary supervisor of the European division of Procter & Gamble to CFO and CEO of Ducati Motor Holding and CFO and COO of Roberto Cavalli, amongst others.
SPACs have turn out to be more and more energetic and are usually established by trade veterans main a group set to boost cash via an preliminary public providing on the promise of shopping for an organization or giving the funds again to traders in just a few years. So far this yr, SPACs have raised over $98 billion via IPOs, on high of the $82 billion raised final yr, in keeping with Dealogic.
As reported, among the many gamers who’re on the hunt already or making ready to launch a SPAC are former Gap Inc. CEO Art Peck and Seventh Avenue financier Gary Wassner with Good Commerce Acquisition, personal fairness veteran Ken Suslow at Sandbridge Acquisition Corp. (with assist from Tommy Hilfiger and Domenico De Sole), Matt Higgins’ Omnichannel Acquisition Corp. (with assist from Bobbi Brown), mall large Simon Property Group and luxurious titan Bernard Arnault, to call just a few.
Trapani can also be chairman of luxurious manufacturing pole Gruppo Florence, established by VAM Investments, Fondo Italiano d’Investimento and Italmobiliare, whose objective is to develop a platform to provide high-quality Made in Italy merchandise to main luxurious style manufacturers, whereas safeguarding the technical and cultural know-how of small and medium-sized family-owned Italian corporations. Since its launch final October, Gruppo Florence ha acquired 4 storied Italian producers, as reported.
Trapani is a former Bulgari and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton government. He resigned from the Tiffany & Co. board in November 2019, shortly after LVMH struck the deal to purchase the storied American jeweler.
Piana, former director of 3i Group and Fondo Italiano d’Investimento, mentioned the SPAC has already garnered a lot curiosity from traders all over the world, and defined that the corporate was established “with a European ambition and with the goal to publicly list a big company. We will flank it in the medium-term with our expertise in management, strategy and private equity to stimulate the creation of value.”
René Abate, Thomas Walker and Beatrice Ballini had been named unbiased, non-executive administrators. Abate is at present serving as a senior advisor of BCG, chairman of the advisor committee of Fapi, managing associate at Delphen and president of Loanboox sas.
Walker is at present serving as a non-executive director at PureGym and is co-founder of CCMP Capital (previously J.P. Morgan Partners) the place he spent 17 years. He beforehand labored at J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse and Drexel Burnham Lambert. Ballini is a member of Russell Reynolds Retail Practice, a board member and CEO of Advisory Partners group and a board member of Coty, Inc.
The SPAC named Citigroup Global Markets Europe AG and J.P. Morgan AG joint international coordinators and joint bookrunners; Société Générale and UniCredit Corporate & Investment Banking as joint bookrunners, and Linklaters as authorized advisor.
