Social Capital Hedosophia Seeking $1 Billion U.K. Listing
Social Capital Hedosophia Seeking $1 Billion U.K. Listing
(Bloomberg) -- Social Capital Hedosophia, the partnership between serial dealmakers Chamath Palihapitiya and Ian Osborne, is planning to seek at least $1 billion listing a company in London focused on climate change solutions, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The investment firm is preparing an initial public offering of a vehicle that will pursue multiple acquisitions, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The company will also build out its own operations tackling environmental issues, the people said.
Social Capital Hedosophia is working with Barclays Plc and Credit Suisse Group AG on the proposed deal, which is code named “Project Impact,” one of the people said. It’s targeting a listing later this year for the vehicle, which isn’t structured as a special purpose acquisition company, the people said.
Palihapitiya, the former Facebook Inc. executive and co-founder of the venture firm Social Capital, is set to be chief executive officer of the new company, one of the people said.
No final decisions have been made, and details of the planned offering could change, the people said. Representatives for Social Capital Hedosophia, Barclays and Credit Suisse declined to comment.
Hedosophia Co-Founder
British investor Osborne is the co-founder of London-based investment firm Hedosophia. He has been a partner in Palihapitya’s SPACs under their Social Capital Hedosophia franchise, serving as president of four of them, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The two took Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. public in a $1.3 billion SPAC merger in 2019, a deal that helped spark the blank-check surge of the past year. In December, real estate platform Opendoor Technologies Inc. completed its merger with one of their SPACs and began trading.
This year, they completed a deal with Clover Health Investments Corp. and reached an agreement with Social Finance Inc., the online lender known as SoFi.
The U.K. is set to reform stock exchange rules as part of wide-ranging reforms to boost the attractiveness of London after Brexit. The proposals include introducing dual-class share ownership to let founders keep greater voting power, as has become commonplace with U.S. listings.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said this month that the government will act quickly to boost London’s standing among investors. The proposals also include removing some investor protections to ignite the “dormant” market for SPACs.
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