London-based Iconic Sports Acquisition Corp. announced the closing of its upsized initial public offering of 34.5 million units, which includes 4.5 million units issued pursuant to the exercise by the underwriters of their over-allotment option in full.
The offering was priced at $10.00 per unit, resulting in gross proceeds of $345 million. Iconic Sports is a special purpose acquisition company formed for the purpose of entering into a business combination with one or more businesses.
The sponsor group behind Iconic Sports is a partnership between James G. Dinan, Alexander Knaster, Edward Eisler, and Tifosy SponsorCo LLC, an affiliate of Tifosy Capital & Advisory. The company is led by Co-Chief Executive Officers Gianluca Vialli and Fausto Zanetton, and “brings together a powerful combination of experience, industry relationships and global expertise across sports, finance and management.”
Iconic Sports Acquisition wrote in a statement, “The company expects to capitalize on the ability of its sponsor group and management team to identify, acquire and accelerate a business in the global sports industry or an adjacent sector including data and analytics, media and technology. In doing so, the company intends to focus its search on iconic businesses, including sports franchises, which will complement its differentiated expertise, benefit from its strategic and hands-on operational leadership and where it believes there are opportunities for attractive risk-adjusted returns and to build a platform for future investments.”
In order to further align the interests of the sponsor group, management and the shareholders of the company, the sponsor group acquired $50 million of units in the offering at the initial public offering price.
Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as joint book-running managers for the offering.
