Queen's Gambit expands blank-cheque IPO to $398 million

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Queen's Gambit Growth Capital, a blank-cheque company led entirely by female executives, increased the size of its US initial public offering (IPO) to raise US$300 million (S$398 million).

The special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, said in a statement on Tuesday (Jan 19) that it sold 30 million units for US$10 apiece, confirming an earlier report by Bloomberg.

The company initially filed in December to raise US$225 million. It had elevated that target this month to US$275 million, according to filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

Queen's Gambit draws its name from one of the oldest opening moves in the game of chess, which is also the title of the wildly popular Netflix drama series.

The company is led by chief executive officer Victoria Grace. She is a founding partner of Colle Capital Partners, which gets its name from another opening move in Chess.

Colle was an investor in electric truck maker Hyliion Holdings, which went public through a SPAC merger last year.

Other Queen's Gambit executives include Fortune Media chief financial officer Anastasia Nyrkovskaya, Starwood Capital senior managing director Jennifer Barbetta and Jamf Holding CFO Jill Putman.

The listing furthers a record run by SPACs on US exchanges. The blank-cheque companies, which merge with private companies seeking to go public without holding an IPO themselves, raised a record of about US$79 billion in 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Less than three weeks into January, 57 such listings have already raised more than US$16 billion, the data show.

The offering by Queen's Gambit is being led by Barclays. The units are expected to begin trading on Wednesday on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol GMBTU.

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