Gen Z Texas Oil Scion Raises $125 Million for Latin America SPAC

(Bloomberg) -- The young scion of a storied Texas oil dynasty and his fraternity brother have raised $125 million for a SPAC focused on Latin America. 

Rose Hill Acquisition Corp., started by 23-year-old Cornell alumni Albert G. Hill IV and Juan Jose Rosas, sold 12.5 million units at $10 apiece in its U.S. initial public offering, the blank-check firm said in a statement Wednesday. Each unit represents one common share and half a redeemable warrant.   

Hill is the great-great-grandson of oil baron H.L. Hunt, a gambling man who turned to the energy business and built his fortune in the 1930s as a wildcatter in east Texas. The tycoon’s sprawling family has been called the real-life analogue to the hit TV show “Dallas,” and Life magazine declared in 1948 that Hunt might be America’s richest person.

Rosas and Hill played sports together at Cornell and were members of the Delta Upsilon fraternity. They both spent time at Chardan Capital Markets LLC, a boutique advisory firm that’s carved out a niche arranging blank-check deals. 

The pair are getting discounted stock that should help them profit handsomely from a successful deal. They’re among more than a dozen people aged 30 and below who have been named as executives or board members at blank-check companies that filed listing plans since the start of June, according to data provider SPAC Research. 

Rose Hill Acquisition’s financial backers include Cohen & Co. and Chile’s Ameris Capital. Board members include a former executive at a top Brazilian fund manager, veterans of Banco Santander SA and UBS Group AG, and the ex-CEO of one of Peru’s largest business groups. 

The special purpose acquisition company’s units are slated to start trading Thursday on the Nasdaq Global Market under the “ROSEU” ticker. Cantor Fitzgerald LP arranged the offering. 

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