By Pritam Biswas and Prakhar Srivastava
(Reuters) -Sports technology firm Enhanced said on Wednesday it will go public in the U.S. through a merger with special purpose acquisition company A Paradise Acquisition Corp, in a deal valued at $1.2 billion.
Blank-check firms are staging a comeback on Wall Street this year after a prolonged downturn, with seasoned sponsors reviving SPACs as an alternative route to public listings.
Financial services firm SWB, data center operator Blockfusion and Teamshares also announced plans to go public via SPAC mergers this month.
This year “has shown that SPACs are here to stay,” said Josef Schuster, CEO of IPO research firm IPOX.
“It’s because some of the companies emerging from a SPAC during the previous cycle have performed very strongly, and in some cases captured the most innovative growth sectors,” Schuster said.
Co-founded by German billionaire investor Christian Angermayer in 2023, Enhanced aims to reinvent elite sports and performance with products focused on health and longevity. The company plans to build a diversified business that taps growing demand for sports entertainment, performance enhancement and others.
Enhanced said it expects to generate revenue from telehealth and direct-to-consumer performance products, brand partnerships and broadcasting rights. Brand partnerships are expected to form the core of its sports business, the company said.
The company said it expects to get up to $200 million in gross cash proceeds through the merger. It plans to direct the proceeds toward athlete recruitment and pay, Enhanced Games production, medical support for athletes, development of telehealth and consumer products and general corporate purposes.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026. After that, the combined company will be renamed as Enhanced Group and list on the Nasdaq under the ticker “ENHA”.
Berenberg is the financial adviser to Enhanced, while Cohen & Company Capital Markets advises A Paradise.
(Reporting by Pritam Biswas and Prakhar Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Leroy Leo)
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