Chelsea FC proprietor to take Flexjet public in Spac deal

The main rival to the Warren Buffett-backed NetJets is planning to go public in a Spac deal led by Todd Boehly, the US financier who owns the Chelsea soccer and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball golf equipment.

Flexjet stated it will merge with Horizon Acquisition Company II to publicly listing on the New York Inventory Trade. The Cleveland, Ohio-based firm, which presents each fractional possession of aeroplanes and jet playing cards, is projected to usher in $2.3bn in income this yr — greater than a 3rd greater than in 2021 — as non-public aviation booms.

Flexjet chair Kenneth Ricci stated the deal, which suggests a pro-forma enterprise worth for the corporate of $3.1bn, “will place us to increase market share at an accelerated tempo in an opportunistic atmosphere”. The transaction is anticipated to shut subsequent yr.

Spending by US corporations on executives’ private use of personal jets rose 35 per cent final yr. The market is anticipated to develop over the subsequent 4 years at a compound annual charge within the high-single digits.

Demand at Flexjet was so sizzling at one level in 2021 that the corporate closed its jet card programme — a pre-paid steadiness of flight hours — to new prospects. The corporate reported web earnings in fiscal 2021 of slightly below $53mn on $1.7bn in income.

“Our robust income efficiency has been pushed by sustained development in our fleet dimension and buyer base,” chief monetary officer Mike Rossi stated.

Boehly, who acquired Chelsea in a £4.25bn deal this yr, is a serial backer of clean cheque corporations. The Los Angeles-based investor used Horizon Acquisition I in 2020 to purchase digital ticketing enterprise Vivid Seats, which is buying and selling about 20 per cent beneath its preliminary public providing worth and earlier this yr he withdrew Horizon Acquisition III, which was launched in 2021.

The publicly traded autos, which elevate money with the intent to purchase a personal firm, turned one of the vital well-liked funding performs in late 2020 and early 2021 however have since plunged as buyers have opted to keep away from riskier companies. Traders in Spac-backed corporations have misplaced greater than $250bn since 2020, in response to Spac Analysis. 

Boehly, who additionally co-owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the LA Lakers basketball workforce, is the co-founder of Eldridge Industries, an funding group that operates throughout sectors, together with insurance coverage, media and actual property. Earlier than that he was president of Guggenheim Companions.