Macau's giant Melco CEO Lawrence Ho to list SPAC in New York

Lawrence Ho Yau-lung, the chairman and CEO of Macau casino operator Melco Resorts & Entertainment, is poised to list a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in New York, reports the South China Morning Post.

The SPAC or blank-cheque company, Black Spade Acquisition, will raise up to US$150 million in an initial public offering, according to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission on Tuesday. This amount could rise to US$172.5 million if the underwriters’ overallotment option is exercised in full.

The SPAC will target business opportunities underpinned by consumption forces in Asia, with a focus on enabling technology and lifestyle brands, products and services, and entertainment media.

“We believe China’s growing middle-class population of more than 350 million people, with its rapidly evolving consumption patterns and increasing spending power, will continue to shape multiple industries in Asia and across the globe,” the company said in its filing.

The SPAC, founded this year, joins the hottest trend in global capital markets of late. SPACs raised nearly US$94 billion globally in the first quarter, more than the US$81 billion raised in all of 2020 and more than the US$80 billion raised in the prior 15 years combined, since the beginning of April however, blank-cheque companies have only raised about US$12 billion globally according to data from Refinitiv.

Black Spade plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BSAQU. 

Citibank was the sole bookrunner on the deal. It will be led by co-CEO and chairman Dennis Tam, who is also president and CEO of Black Spade Capital, Ho’s private investment firm.

Ho, whose net worth was put at US$2 billion as of June 30 this year by Forbes, is the son of Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun, who died in May last year. He aims to transform the traditional casino business into a hospitality and entertainment industry and extend its reach outside Macau to the Philippines and Russia.