Jeff Sagansky, Harry Sloan Partner on $600 Million IPO
By Dave McNary
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Veteran Hollywood executives Jeff Sagansky and Harry Sloan are launching Flying Eagle Acquisition Corp. with a $600 million initial public offering.
It’s the sixth public acquisition vehicle since 2011 launched by Sagansky and Sloan. These kind of acquisition companies have gained in popularity in recent years as a means for investors to participate in new players in the media and digital sector — particularly with rivals emerging to Netflix in streaming technology.
Their other companies — Diamond Eagle Acquisition, Global Eagle Acquisition, Silver Eagle Acquisition, Double Eagle Acquisition and Platinum Eagle — raised more than $2 billion for investment purposes. Sports betting giant DraftKings recently agreed to become a public company after reaching a merger agreement with Diamond Eagle Acquisition and SBTech. The combined company will become the only vertically-integrated pure-play sports betting and online gaming company based in the United States. That transaction is expected to close in the first half of this year.
The Flying Eagle Acquisition IPO, announced late Thursday, was priced at $10 per unit for 60 million unit. Each unit issued in the initial public offering consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-fourth of one warrant to purchase one share of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share.
The units will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and trade under the ticker symbol “FEAC.U” beginning on Friday. After the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, the shares of Class A common stock and warrants are expected to be listed on the NYSE under the symbols “FEAC” and “FEAC WS,” respectively. The offering is expected to close on March 10.
Flying Eagle Acquisition Corp. is a “blank check” company with a business purpose is conduct a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more
businesses. Its target will not be limited to a particular industry, sector or geographic region.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. are acting as the representatives of the underwriters for the offering. The Company has granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up an additional 9 million units at the initial public offering price to cover over-allotments,
Sloan served as chairman and CEO of MGM between 2005 and 2009 prior to the completion of its restructuring via a pre-packaged bankruptcy. He was also the founder, chairman and CEO of SBS Broadcasting, Europe’s second-largest broadcaster.
Sagansky worked for three decades in show business, including serving as president of CBS Entertainment between 1990 and 1994, and as CEO of Paxson Communications from 1998 to 2003.
