An investor is working on the birth of the first Belgian company of the “blank check” type, known as “Spac” in the jargon. It aims to raise around 100 million euros.
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Spac. Until a year ago, the term was only known to insiders. But last year this sort of “anti-IPO” – since this is about raising funds before having an activity – a exploded in notoriety.
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The acronym is used to designate a “special purpose acquisition company”, or company with a special vocation of acquisition, one could translate into French.
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The mechanism works as follows: credible people from the business community bring an empty shell to the stock market, with the promise of using the money collected from investors to take over a business within two years, allowing the passage to offer the latter a quotation in a roundabout way.
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The difference with a classic introduction is notable. While for an IPO, it is worth testing the interest of many upstream investors, without knowing how much money can actually be raised until the last minute, a Spac only requires trading with a single counterparty. which makes the process more secure and predictable.
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Phenomenon
However, the things don’t go so fast in Europe. The most famous Spacs are probably those of the French businessman Xavier Niel or of the Dutch Star Companies in our Dutch neighbors. As for the flat country, if some Belgian investors are indeed involved in such constructions abroad (GBL and the Saverys family, for example), the Belgian situation is close to dead calm.
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At least until today. Because according to our information, the first Belgian Spac is now in gestation. Investor and entrepreneur Dieter Aelvoet confirms that he is on the move.
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“Discussions are underway with potential investors.”
Dieter Aelvoet
Investor and ex-financier
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In a previous life, Aelvoet was active in the JP Morgan trading room. A few years ago he started the investment company aim.group, which focuses on acquiring family businesses.
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The aim.group portfolio includes four companies: Vandapower (battery components), DD Engineering (engineering), Estee Coating (powder coating installations and equipment) and Dupont Electro (high and low voltage industrial installations).
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One of the advisers of aim.group is none other than Koen Hoffman, CEO of asset manager Value Square and former boss of KBC Securities, the KBC group brokerage firm.
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Established objective
Dieter Aelvoet aims for a size of around 100 million euros for its Belgian Spac. “Discussions are underway with potential investors. There are among them well-known captains of industry,” said the person.
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Goal? Get your hands on a family SME niche market focusing on the business market (B2B) and where digitization is central.
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“Many families want to use the stock exchange to facilitate the exchange of shares, but an IPO is difficult. A combination with a Spac can be an alternative,” says Aelvoet.
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The man hope to complete the project this year, but prefers not to be locked into a too strict schedule. “There are roadmaps for Spacs abroad, but not yet in Belgium.”
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Moreover, as is the rule for this type of vehicle, investor money will be returned if no target is found after two years.
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Spac vs. Spac
The emergence of Spacs is accompanied by a corollary, namely a very clear increase in competition in the sphere of unlisted investments (private equity).
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And for good reason, while 250 new blank check companies were born in the United States last year, approximately 200 are still looking for a target.
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Which sometimes leads to some incongruities. Bradley Tusk, President of IG Acquisition, a $ 300 million Spac targeting the leisure world, recently testified in the American press. As part of its own roadshow, or a road show to everything that matters in finance, he sometimes happened to be in compete in its presentation times with no less than four other vehicles.
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What lead the person to say that he would not be surprised if some of these companies did not manage to find a target. After all, the phenomenon only multiplies the candidates for the takeover of rare pearls (digital, resilient …) which it becomes all the more difficult to charm. What could affect the prices.
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