Ex-Presidential Candidate Delaney Files for $250 Million SPAC

(Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. presidential candidate John Delaney is the latest figure from business and politics to seek capital through a blank-check firm.

Delaney, 57, is listed as chief executive officer of Revolution Acceleration Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company that has filed to raise $250 million through an initial public offering.

A former three-term Maryland congressman, Delaney was the first Democratic candidate to join the 2020 race. He dropped out in January, days before the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses. He’s also known for founding Healthcare Financial Partners and CapitalSource Inc.

Delaney’s Revolution Acceleration, based in Washington, can pursue an acquisition in any industry, but will focus on companies “uniquely positioned to capitalize on the opportunities that can be unlocked by the convergence of innovation, government policy and regulation,” according to the filing. Businesses in infrastructure, health care, financial services, clean energy, consumer products and media are among those with the potential to grow by disruption, it said.

The SPAC is partly named for the firm led by one of its founders, Steve Case, the America Online Inc. co-founder. Case is chairman and chief executive officer of venture capital firm Revolution LLC, known for its bets on companies including fast-casual chain Sweetgreen, identity platform Clear and digital health startup Talkspace.

Revolution Acceleration’s public debut would follow the IPOs of Executive Network Partnering Corp., whose chairman is former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, and Cohn Robbins Holdings Corp., led by co-founder and co-chairman Gary Cohn, the onetime National Economic Council director.

The U.S. SPAC market reached an all-time high this year, with companies raising more than $63 billion to hunt takeover targets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Merging with a blank-check firm enables closely held companies to go public without the challenges of the traditional IPO process.

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