Abu Dhabi royal-backed firms to merge in region's first SPAC deal

Chimera Investment

20/09/2023 09:31

DUBAI, Sept 20 (Reuters) - ADC Acquisition Corporation
 ADC.AD , a blank-cheque company backed by a prominent Abu Dhabi
royal, has agreed to acquire state investment fund ADQ's United
Printing & Publishing, in what would be the first such deal in
the Gulf region.
    The transaction gives UPP an enterprise value of 623 million
 dirhams ($169.63 million), according to an ADC statement, and
it will merge with ADC for the combined entity to become a
publicly-listed company on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. 
    ADC was set up as a special purpose acquisition company
(SPAC) by ADQ, chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan,
brother of the UAE president, and Chimera Investments - part of
Royal Group, Sheikh Tahnoon's private investment conglomerate,
in April last year. 
    It listed the following month after raising about $100
million, with a mandate to acquire one or more scalable
businesses. SPACs raise money to acquire a private firm with the
purpose of taking it public, allowing the target to list more
quickly on share markets than via traditional initial public
offerings.
    ADQ will become the combined entity's single biggest
shareholder after the deal, the statement said.  
    ADC is also seeking to raise up to 734 million dirhams via
private investment in public equity (PIPE) for UPP's organic and
inorganic growth.
    "We are confident that UPP represents an attractive
platform, with strong and stable revenue, through its long-term
contracts and relationships with anchor customers, such as UAE
government entities," ADC Chief Executive Seif Fikry said in the
statement.
    
($1 = 3.6728 UAE dirham)

 (Reporting by Yousef Saba, Editing by Louise Heavens)
 ((Yousef.Saba@thomsonreuters.com; +971562166204; https://twitter.com/YousefSaba))