Friday, July 28, 2017

Purple Goes Public In Reverse Merger

Alpine, Utah-based Purple, a manufacturer of mattresses and related products, has gone public in a reverse merger with New York-based Global Partner Acquisition Corp.. Global Partner Acquisition Corp. is publicly listed on the NASDAQ as GPAC. The two said that GPAC acquired Purple based on an enterprise value of $1.1 billion, with GPAC paying approximately $90M in cash plus equity for the newly combined public company. The companies said that Purple founders Terry and Tony Pearce retain majority shareholder positions in the company, and Sam Bernards will continue to lead the company as CEO. The companies said GPAC was advised by Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Piper Jaffray Companies, and Raymond James & Associates, Inc in the deal, along with Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP. Purple was advised by Headwaters MB LLC, along with Dorsey & Whitney LLP. Reverse mergers are typically used by companies to reach the public markets without many of the usual expenses of an IPO, although they are not very common.