Chinh Chu, the veteran dealmaker who ended a 25-year career at Blackstone Group LP last year, is preparing to launch an acquisition company that could raise up to $1 billion in a US initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said. If successful, the offering would be the largest by a so-called special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) since the 2008 financial crisis. SPACs are companies with no assets that raise money in an IPO which they then use, often alongside debt, to buy other companies.
Chu has teamed up with William Foley, chairman of the board of US title insurance services provider Fidelity National Financial Inc, on the SPAC, which has already been registered confidentially with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the people said on Wednesday.