Online ticket marketplace Vivid Seats and special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Horizon Acquisition Corporation have completed their business combination.
The combined company began trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol SEAT on Tuesday (Oct 19), with its share price up 6.5% to $13.09 (£9.50/€11.25) on debut. The business combination was approved by the majority of Horizon stockholders on October 14.
The combination, which values Vivid Seats at $1.95bn, was first announced in April.
Stan Chia, chief executive officer of Vivid Seats, said: “Today marks a major milestone for our company, our employees and our shareholders. Now as a public company, we remain focused on continuing to deliver exceptional value to our loyal customers and drive growth as we strive to be the leading online ticketing marketplace.”
Vivid Seats’ marketplace supports over 12 million customers and 3,400 sellers across more than 200,000 listed events.
Last week it was announced that US betting and fantasy sports group DraftKings is investing in the combined group through Eldridge Industries, which is associated with Horizon. Eldridge and Horizon are led by Todd Boehly, who is also the owner of Major League Baseball franchise Los Angeles Dodgers.
The investment will be part of the public investment in public equity (PIPE) financing for the deal, with DraftKings taking on a portion of Eldridge’s commitment. The closing of this investment was conditioned on the basis that the combination between Horizon and Vivid Seats went through.
DraftKings will have the option to sell its Vivid Seats shares to Eldridge one year after the SPAC merger completed, for $9.77 per share.
Boehly, chairman and chief executive of Horizon, said: “We are excited to see this merger successfully realised and congratulate Vivid Seats on this milestone.
“We look forward to collaborating with Vivid Seats as they continue to build their growing and highly profitable marketplace backed by an impressive technology platform and extraordinary customer base.”
Image: Dominic Hampton on Unsplash
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