Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Morgan Stanley and UBS as joint global co-ordinators and joint bookrunners on the English/US aspects of the US$340 million IPO of EverArc Holdings Limited, a British Virgin Islands-organised special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), and its standard listing on the London Stock Exchange.

In seeking its acquisition, or de-SPAC transaction, EverArc's efforts in identifying a prospective target business will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic region. However, EverArc expects to focus on acquiring a company or business with a significant proportion of its activities in North America given the background and experience of the founders. Those founders include William N. Thorndike Jr and W. Nicholas Howley, who have acquired more than 135 businesses combined over their respective tenures at TransDigm and Housatonic Partners, and Tracy Britt Cool, Vivek Raj and Haitham Khouri, who have actively managed, acquired or invested in high quality businesses over the past decade or more.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was based in London and led by Head of US Securities Tom O'Neill as well as corporate partners Mike Flockhart and Greg Mulley. They were assisted by corporate associates Shaun Williamson, Elizabeth Reside and Juan Grana.

Tom commented:

"There were 11 SPAC initial public offerings completed in the United States during the month of November alone and then a couple more in December to bring the 2019 total to 56 offerings. We were very pleased to be involved in a SPAC offering that chose to list in London even if the acquisition target is likely to be in North America. EverArc should be the last IPO in London in 2019 so completion is a great way to end the year. We wish the founders our very best in their pursuit of EverArc's business plan."

Greenberg Traurig was EverArc's English/US legal counsel and Maples and Calder was the company's BVI legal counsel.