WeWork plans to go public around October 21, more than two years after its IPO attempt ended in disaster.
In March, the shared workspace company agreed to go public by merging with a specialist acquisition company (SPAC) called BowX Acquisition Corp. Both companies announced on Monday that BowX shareholders will actually meet on 19 October to vote on the deal.
WeWork plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker 'WE' upon completion of the deal, Exness has learned.
The merger values the co-working giant at $9 billion, including debt. That's less than a fifth of the private valuation of $47 billion it received in 2019 after a $2 billion investment from SoftBank.
Shares in BowX closed up 5% to around $11 on Monday. They hit a high of $14 in April after the blank cheque issuing firm, whose advisers include former NBA star Shaquille O'Neal, announced the WeWork merger.
WeWork first filed for an IPO on 14 August 2019. But the coworking start-up quickly faced scrutiny from investors and the media over its finances, its business model and the controversial behaviour of then CEO Adam Neumann.
The negative reaction eventually prompted WeWork to postpone the listing, and Neuman stepped down from his position on 24 September 2019. SoftBank's majority shareholder, which initially turned down a $3 billion deal to buy the shares, reached an agreement to rescue the business in February this year.
PSO is a registered shell company set up solely for the purpose of combining or acquiring private businesses to take it public. This vehicle offers a cheaper and quicker alternative to a traditional IPO. However, SPACs have come under criticism from regulators, who have taken steps to tighten investor protection from investment vehicles.
A series of class action lawsuits by aggrieved shareholders against companies such as Bill Ackman's Pershing Share Tontine Holdings, along with growing regulatory oversight and poor performance, have raised questions about whether SPACs are a sign of Wall Street's glut of stocks.
The SPAC market's cold snap is evident from recent data, which shows that $75 billion was wiped out by the value of SPAC transactions in just six months.
