Perella Weinberg Partners, a boutique investment-banking advisory firm which was founded in 2006, is seeking to go public via an unidentified special purchase acquisition company, orSPAC , according to a report from Bloomberg.- The firm was founded by Joe Perella, a former vice chairman at Morgan Stanley and head of its investment-banking division; and Peter Weinberg, formerly the CEO of Goldman Sachs International in London.
- SPACs have exploded in 2020, with 182 launched this year so far. That's more than triple the number of SPACs created in 2019, according to SPACInsider.
A boutique
Perella Weinberg Partners, a boutique investment-banking advisory firm which was founded in 2006, is seeking to go public via an unidentified SPAC, according to a new report from Bloomberg. It's the latest update in 2020's SPAC craze.
A representative for Perella Weinberg declined a request for comment from Business Insider on the report.
Perella Weinberg has previously sought to go public, hiring bankers in 2018, according to a report at the time from the Financial Times. But those plans never came fruition.
The firm was founded by Joe Perella, a former vice chairman at Morgan Stanley and head of its investment-banking division; and Peter Weinberg, formerly the CEO of Goldman Sachs International in London.
Among the clients it has advised are firms like KKR, the private-equity giant; Royal Caribbean's Cruises; and Liberty Broadband, according to a small sampling posted on its website.
Perella Weinberg has faced headwinds in recent years despite hiring a high-profile name to spearhead its technology, media, and telecommunications investment-banking group, Business Insider has previously reported.
After poaching George Young — who previously was co-head of Lazard's global TMT group — to run Perella's nascent TMT group in 2015, the group failed to produce the string of successes industry watchers expected. Young is now a chairman of
The firm has had some big wins in the TMT space, including the $100 billion merger of AT&T and Time Warner, and PayPal's $4 billion acquisition of Honey, a shopping and rewards platform.
Still, Perella Weinberg has lost some senior TMT bankers this year, including MDs in both New York and London.
2020 has been the year of the SPAC
Perella Weinberg is hardly the only company seeking to go public via a SPAC merger. Virgin Galatic and DraftKings are among the companies that have gone public in recent years via SPACs.
While SPACs have existed for years, they've historically been used as an alternative to go public for companies that might not be able to withstand the scrutiny that comes via a traditional initial public offering. Often referred to as blank-check companies, SPACs go public without any revenue or operating assets. Their sole purpose is to find a company they can acquire, which will then be public as a result of the deal.
This year, however, the market for SPACs has exploded, with 182 vehicles launched thus far, according to SPACInsider. It's a massive uptick for an industry that saw just 59 SPACs go live in 2019.
The SPAC market has also attracted big names from a variety of industries looking to launch their own vehicles, including hedge-fund titan Bill Ackman, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, Silicon Valley power player Dragoneer Investment Group, and "Moneyball" star Billy Beane.
Banks and law firms have cashed in on the multi-billion mega SPAC sector this year as well, as Business Insider has previously reported. In the background of this, M&A players have been on a rollercoaster throughout the past year, roiled by tumult in global dealmaking activity triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
There has been some hope throughout the third quarter of the year for bankers like Perella Weinberg which have an M&A practice, though, as data has shown activity restarting again in the third quarter of the year.
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