SIGNA Sports United To Go Public By Merging With A SPAC

SIGNA Sports United (SSU), the sports eCommerce retailer and technology company, has struck a deal to combine with publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Yucaipa Acquisition Corporation (YAC). The deal also encompasses the purchase of eCommerce bike retailer WiggleCRC Group, according to an announcement.

The combined firm will trade under the SIGNA Sports United name on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) when the transaction wraps up.

“Becoming a listed company allows us to continue capturing market share in Europe and to accelerate our U.S. and international expansion while scaling our platform solutions,” SSU CEO Stephan Zoll said in the announcement.

YAC agreed to merge with SIGNA Sports United in addition to WiggleCRC Group based on a pro forma enterprise valuation of $3.2 billion. The deal is anticipated to deliver a maximum of $645 million of gross proceeds, including a maximum of $345 million of cash held in YAC’s trust account and a private investment in public equity (PIPE) of roughly $300 million.

The boards of YAC and SSU have each unanimously given the green light to the deal, which is still subject to the go-ahead from YAC’s shareholders and “other customary closing conditions.” According to the announcement, the transaction is anticipated to wrap up in the latter half of his year.

SSU is an international leader in the tennis, bike, team sports and outdoor eCommerce categories, and has “pursued a profitable growth strategy, investing to enter new markets and competing to establish leading positions,” according to the announcement.

“SSU is a global leader in the fastest-growing sports categories and is well-positioned for continued success as a public company,” Yucaipa Chairman and President Ron Burkle said in the announcement. “With its technology platform — and a combination of scale, international growth and profitability — we expect SSU to grow its leadership positions and accelerate its global expansion.”

The news comes as Redbox, which runs a collection of entertainment kiosks, said in May that it had struck a definitive deal to combine with SPAC company Seaport Global Acquisition Corp.