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Another Ex-Bank CEO Gets Into Blank Cheque Company Game

A number of former CEOs and senior figures at banks - many of them in the wealth management sector - are getting into the business of building special purpose acquisition companies. These SPACs have expanded massively in the past 12 months.
The former chief executive of Italy’s UniCredit and ex-Bank of America
executive intends to raise money for a special purpose
acquisition company, targeting sectors such as wealth
management.
Jean Pierre Mustier, who left UniCredit last week, plans to work
on the SPAC with Diego de Giorgi, Bloomberg reported at
the weekend, citing unnamed sources.
Such a development highlights how these “blank cheque” companies
continue to be a busy area, as explained in
this article yesterday, as well as here. A period of
ultra-low interest rates, a still-robust equity market, and
expected valuation opportunities caused by COVID-19 disruptions
have combined to help drive a sharp rise in IPOs. As this
publication has heard in calls with private banks, the area is
drawing in money from family offices, private banks and other
wealth managers. The trend has also prompted
some warnings.
JP Morgan is
advising on the venture, the report said. The US bank reportedly
declined to comment.
Another former CEO, Tidjane Thiam (ex-Credit Suisse) is planning
a $250 million vehicle while ex-Citigroup banker Michael
Klein and former Deutsche Bank
investment banking head Garth Ritchie have already listed such
companies in the US. And there’s more: former Commerzbank CEO Martin
Blessing - who was a co-head of wealth management at UBS – is planning to raise funds
for a SPAC in the financial sector.