Dealmaking

Fintech-focused SPAC Lefteris files for $225 million IPO

SPAC is targeting businesses with enterprise values in the $600 million to $1.3 billion range

Another day, another SPAC.

On Friday, documents filed Friday with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission revealed the formation of a new $225 million fintech-focused SPAC (special purpose acquisition company).

(For more background on just what SPACs are, check out our primer here).

According to the filing, Boston-based Lefteris Acquisition Corp. is seeking to raise $225 million by offering 22.5 million units at $10 apiece. Its goal is to identify businesses in the financial services industry with enterprise values in the $600 million to $1.3 billion range.

Lefteris is targeting businesses that are providing or changing technology for traditional financial services (fintech), regulatory and compliance functions (regtech), insurance services (insurtech), wealth and asset management and human resource and payroll functions. 

It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol “LFTRU.”

Karl Roessner, former CEO of E*TRADE Financial Corp., serves as Lefteris’s CEO. 

Its executive chairman, Mark Casady, is founder and general partner of Vestigo Ventures. Casady co-founded the venture capital firm in 2015 to focus on investing in early-stage fintech companies “that can help bring solutions to incumbents.” Vestigo has backed the likes of Alloy (which FinLedger recently covered here), Retirable, (which recently raised $4.7 million), TowerIQ and Curu, according to Crunchbase.

His investment thesis for Vestigo is that “financial services are undergoing tremendous changes that require the industry to lower its costs and better serve clients.” 

From August 2002 to January 2017, Casady held a variety of roles with publicly-traded LPL Financial Holdings and most recently served as chairman and CEO, retiring as chairman in March 2017 and as CEO in January 2017. 

Founded in 1968, LPL is considered the largest independent broker-dealer in the United States.

Lefteris’s thesis reminds us very much of FinLedger’s founding thesis.

In the filing, the company says: “We believe the creation, delivery and servicing of financial products and related services for consumers and businesses is undergoing continuous evolution, which will further and dramatically develop in the years ahead. Amid an increased level of sophistication in financial technology and services, we believe that there are many potential targets within the financial services industry that could become attractive public companies, and that many other potential targets will continue to emerge.”

Those potential targets could range from high-growth companies to established firms with stable revenues and strong cash flow, according to the filing. 

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