Dan Loeb


By Scott Deveau

Activist investor Dan Loeb is seeking to raise as much as $400 million to acquire financial technology firms via a so-called blank-check company.

The firm, Far Point Acquisition Corp., will be led by Tom Farley, who stepped down Monday as president of the New York Stock Exchange. Credit Suisse Group AG and Bank of America Corp. are leading the share sale, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday.

"We believe that there are many potential targets within the fintech space that could become attractive public companies," Far Point said in its filing. Potential targets could range "from very high growth innovative companies to more mature businesses with established franchises, recurring revenues and strong cash flows."

Special purpose acquisition companies, often referred to as blank-check companies, raise money in the public markets and typically pledge to investors that they will acquire one or more businesses within a specified period of time. Far Point intends to list on the NYSE under the symbol FPAC.U.

Far Point aims to make an acquisition within two years, targeting businesses in the financial technology, technology or financial services sectors, according to the filing. It hasn’t identified any potential targets, nor has it held any substantive discussions about any potential deals, it states.

"We will seek to acquire established businesses that we believe are fundamentally sound but potentially in need of financial, operational, strategic or managerial redirection to maximize value," it said in the filing. "We will also look at earlier stage companies that exhibit the potential to change the industries in which they participate and which offer the potential of sustained high levels of revenue growth."

Far Point has appointed former Airbnb Inc. Chief Financial Officer Laurence Tosi as a director nominee alongside former Sony Corp. of America president Nicole Seligman and General Stanley McChrystal. David Bonanno, a managing director at Loeb’s activist fund Third Point, will serve as chief financial officer and director, the filing states.

Far Point intends to issue 40 million units at $10 apiece under the terms of the offering. Each unit consists of one Class A share and one-third of one redeemable warrant.

Financial technology is a catchall term for various hardware, software and related services offered to banks, insurers, brokerages and money managers.


This story was provided by Bloomberg News