Former Paysafe CEO to launch $300m SPAC
Joel Leonoff joins blank-cheque boom to target firms in financial, payments, gaming and esports sectors
Former Paysafe CEO Joel Leonoff is set to launch a $300m (£219.3m) SPAC with a focus on financial services and fintech.
Blank-cheque firm JOFF Fintech Acquisition has submitted its filing with the SEC to raise capital via an initial public offering (IPO).
The New York-based company plans to raise the $300m by offering 30 million units at $10 apiece.
Each unit will consist of one share of common stock and one third of a warrant, which would be exercisable at $11.50, meaning the SPAC would command a total market value of $375m.
Leonoff served as Paysafe CEO from 2008 until 2019 before stepping up to become the group’s vice chair. He will act as CEO and director of JOFF Fintech Acquisition.
Leonoff will be joined by Sonoma Group’s Hillel Frankel, who will serve as president, and former Paysafe CFO Peter Smith, who will assume the same role at JOFF.
In a statement, JOFF confirmed it was looking at businesses with an enterprise value of up to $2bn across the financial services, payments, gaming and esports industries.
The statement read: “JOFF Fintech Acquisition intends to concentrate on identifying one or several businesses in the financial services industry with an enterprise value of approximately $700m to $2bn.”
The SPAC will list on Nasdaq under the ticker JOFFU.