Lakestar SPAC to acquire HomeToGo in first German deal of its kind

HomeToGo SE

04/06/2021 12:15

By Douglas Busvine
    BERLIN, June 4 (Reuters) - A listed shell company promoted
by venture capitalist Klaus Hommels plans to acquire travel
portal HomeToGo in a deal that, if completed, would be the first
of its kind to bring a company to the Frankfurt stock exchange.
    Hommels, founder of venture fund Lakestar, floated a branded
special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, in February with
the goal of enabling a tech startup to stay in Europe rather
than take the well-travelled route of listing in the United
States.
    Lakestar SPAC I  LRS1.DE  raised 275 million euros ($333
million), saying it would seek to merge with a company worth
between 750 million and 4 billion euros.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2NK3BB
    "Europe needs to create its own digital sovereignty to
strengthen control of its tech innovations," Hommels said of the
proposed deal on Friday.
    "HomeToGo is at the cutting edge of innovation in the travel
sector and has the world's largest selection of vacation
rentals. We are confident that together, we will create a
globally recognised and industry-defining travel tech company,
made in Europe."
    The companies, which did not give a valuation for the
proposed transaction, said they had entered exclusive talks but
cautioned there was no guarantee that a binding agreement can be
reached.
    They also said in a statement that they would seek to do a
private investment in public equity, or PIPE, transaction as
part of the merger.
    PIPE transactions serve as capital-raising exercises prior
to the acquired company coming to the stock market. 
    The process is less onerous than a traditional initial
public offering.
    HomeToGo, a search engine for vacation homes and rentals
that operates websites in Europe, America and the Asia-Pacific
region, stands to benefit from the reopening of travel as the
COVID-19 pandemic recedes.
    It operates as an aggregator, in contrast to Airbnb  ABNB.O 
which directly hosts landlords on its platform.
    In other travel tech funding, Germany's long-distance travel
app FlixMobility said this week it had raised $650 million in
fresh funding and would invest in expanding services in Europe
and the United States.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2NK3BB
    Swiss-based Lakestar, which has raised 1.2 billion euros
from investors according to Crunchbase, has backed earlier
venture investment rounds in both HomeToGo and FlixMobility.
    Shares in Lakestar SPAC I rose 2.5% to 10.18 euros, trading
above their listing price of 10 euros.
 ($1 = 0.8254 euros)

 (Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
 ((douglas.busvine@tr.com; +49 30 220 133 562;))