UPDATE 1-Aurora to go public via $13 bln merger with Mark Pincus, Reid Hoffman SPAC
UPDATE 1-Aurora to go public via $13 bln merger with Mark Pincus, Reid Hoffman SPAC
(Adds transaction details)
July 15 (Reuters) - Self-driving startup Aurora said on Thursday it had agreed to merge with a Silicon Valley heavyweights Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus-backed blank-check firm in a deal that gives the combined company a pro-forma market capitalization of $13 billion.
The deal with Reinvent Technology Partners Y will include a private placement of $1 billion from investors such as Baillie Gifford, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Uber Technologies Inc and Volvo Group.
Founded in 2017, Aurora is led by former heads of self-driving programs at Google , Uber Technologies Inc and Tesla Inc .
Reinvent, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) led by Zynga Inc co-founder Pincus and LinkedIn co-founder Hoffman, raised $850 million through an initial public offering (IPO) in March.
SPACs are publicly listed shell companies that raise funds with the intention of merging with a private entity within two years of floating their shares, thereby taking the private company public.
Aurora is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq after the merger under the new ticker symbol "AUR".
(Reporting by Sohini Podder in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini
Ganguli)
((sohini.podder@thomsonreuters.com;)
(添加交易詳情)路透7月15日電-自動駕駛初創公司Aurora週四表示，已同意與硅谷重量級公司裏德·霍夫曼(Reid Hoffman)和馬克·平卡斯(Mark Pincus)支持的空白支票公司合併，合併後的公司預計市值將達到130億美元。與Reinvent Technology Partners Y的交易將包括來自貝利·吉福德(Baillie Gifford)、加拿大養老金計劃投資委員會、指數風險投資公司(Index Ventures)、紅杉資本(Sequoia Capital)、優步和沃爾沃集團(Volvo Group)等投資者的10億美元私募。極光成立於2017年，由谷歌、優步和特斯拉公司的前自動駕駛項目負責人領導。Reinvent是一家由Zynga Inc.聯合創始人平卡斯和LinkedIn聯合創始人霍夫曼領導的特殊目的收購公司(SPAC)，該公司在3月份通過首次公開募股(IPO)籌集了8.5億美元。SPAC是公開上市的空殼公司，它們籌集資金，目的是在股票上市後兩年內與一傢俬營實體合併，從而使私營公司上市。預計合併後，極光將開始在納斯達克交易，新的股票代碼為“AUR”。(Sohini Podder在孟加盧市報道；Shinsini編輯(甘古力)(sohini.podder@thomsonreurs.com；)
譯文內容由第三人軟體翻譯。