Haim Saban’s media investment fund to go public
Media mogul Haim Saban has launched a special-purpose investment fund that is going public in an effort to raise at least $235 million for potential investments or acquisitions.
The new company, Saban Capital Acquisition Corp., said in a regulatory filing Friday that it is offering 23.5 million shares in an initial public offering, priced at $10 a share, to raise funds for the unspecified purchase. Such a vehicle is known as a special-purpose acquisition company or a “blank check” company.
A person knowledgeable of the effort said the billionaire may be interested in pursuing a deal in the emerging digital media space. However, rules prevent special-purpose acquisition firms from engaging in advanced talks with takeover targets until after the IPO closes, which in this case would be late October.
“We have not identified any potential business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with respect to identifying any potential business combination target,” the company said in a prospectus.
Saban, who made a fortune off the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchise and the sale of the Fox Family cable TV channel, is not the first Hollywood titan to establish a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Jeff Sagansky and Harry Sloan have also have used such a vehicle to make investments.
The company was incorporated in the Cayman Islands in March, but its offices are located in West Los Angeles. Saban’s longtime lieutenant, Adam Chesnoff, will serve as chief executive, and Saban will be the chairman.
Chesnoff did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday, and a representative for Saban declined to comment.
Board members include former Fox chief operating officer Chase Carey, who this month became chairman of Formula 1 racing; former Walt Disney Co. chief financial officer James Rasulo; and Bruce Rosenblum, who last week accepted a high-level job within the Disney ABC Television Group.
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Goldman, Sachs & Co. are underwriting the offering.
The investment banks received a 45-day option to purchase up to 1.5 million more shares at the initial public offering price to cover orders that exceed the planned offering amount.
Saban’s public offering comes as one of Saban Capital’s major investments, Univision Communications Inc., has been mulling a public offering as a vehicle to allow the private equity owners to begin to wind down their investment in the Spanish-language media company. Saban’s formation of a special-purpose company is not related to Univision, according to a person close to the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Wall Street has been anticipating the Univision IPO for nearly two years, but that offering has been delayed by last year’s swoon in media stocks. Univision is not expected offer its shares to the public until early next year.
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