Alan Mnuchin-backed SPAC in talks to take Sharecare public -sources

Sharecare

26/01/2021 22:45

By Anirban Sen and Joshua Franklin
    Jan 26 (Reuters) - A blank-check acquisition firm backed by
veteran investment banker Alan Mnuchin is in talks to merge with
digital health startup Sharecare Inc and take it public, people
familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. 
    Under the terms of the proposed deal, Sharecare would buy
Palo Alto-based healthcare artificial intelligence startup
Doc.ai and then merge with Mnuchin's special purposed
acquisition company (SPAC) Falcon Capital Acquisition Corp
 FCAC.O , the sources said. The deal with Falcon would value the
combined entity at close to $4 billion, one of the sources
added. 
    Mnuchin is the brother of former U.S. Treasury Secretary
Steve Mnuchin. The transaction could be announced as soon as
this week, the sources said, cautioning that negotiations might
still falter. 
    The sources requested anonymity because the matter is
confidential. Representatives for Sharecare, Falcon and Doc.ai
did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 
    Sharecare, founded in 2012 by WebMD founder Jeff Arnold, is
an online healthcare data platform that gives customers advice
on health and lifestyle-related matters through a mobile app. 
    A SPAC is a shell company that raises funds in an IPO with
the aim of acquiring a private company, which then becomes
public as result of the merger. For the company being acquired,
the merger is an alternative way to go public over a traditional
initial public offering.
    Falcon raised $345 million in an initial public offering in
September on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Hollywood executive Jeff
Sagansky, former SoftBank Vision Fund managing partner Michael
Ronen, hedge fund Metropolitan Capital Advisors founder Karen
Finerman and Waverley Capital founder Edgar Bronfman sit on
Falcon's board. 

 (Reporting by Anirban Sen in Bengaluru and Joshua Franklin in
Miami
Additional reporting by Rebecca Spalding in New York; Editing by
David Gregorio)
 ((Anirban.Sen@thomsonreuters.com; (within U.S.+1 646 223 8780;
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