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Billionaire Dan Och Teams Up With Fuhrman For $750 Million SPAC

Billionaire Dan Och Teams Up With Fuhrman For $750 Million SPAC

Dan Och and Glenn Fuhrman have created a blank-check company, joining a growing list of hedge fund managers, venture capitalists, former bankers and sports stars raising money for potential investments.

The duo is seeking to raise $750 million for a special purpose acquisition company called Ajax I, according to a registration statement filed Friday. The so-called SPAC will cast a wide net for deals and primarily focus on businesses in software, fintech and the consumer industry.

Billionaire Dan Och Teams Up With Fuhrman For $750 Million SPAC

Och, 59, built a fortune through Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, which was once the largest publicly traded hedge fund firm in the U.S. He pulled most of his capital from the firm in 2018 after a years-long slide in its share price. He set up his family office, New York-based Willoughby Capital, more than a decade ago to manage his investments.

Fuhrman, meanwhile, helped found billionaire Michael Dell’s family office and shaped it into one of the most sophisticated of its type globally before stepping down at the end of 2019.

Billionaire Dan Och Teams Up With Fuhrman For $750 Million SPAC

Those on the board include Instagram founder Kevin Systrom, Anne Wojcicki who started 23andme, and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. founder Steve Ells, the filing shows.

More than 100 of these blank-check companies have gone public this year, raising more than $40 billion on U.S. exchanges, more than half the total raised in all previous years combined.

Those starting SPACs this year include Bill Ackman, venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya and Bill Foley, while the entities have enlisted advisers including Shaquille O’Neal and Sam Altman. The entities provide a way for businesses to go public without going through an initial public offering.

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