London’s Cazoo raises $1.6B, takes $7B SPAC deal by Dan Och to list NYSE

British unicorn Cazoo that makes buying and selling cars online as easy as other products is all set to make its stock market debut in New York. The company will float at $7 billion (nearly £5 billion) and has agreed to go public in New York through a merger with AJAX I Acquisition Corp, a blank-check acquisition company led by billionaire US investor Dan Och.

To be listed in NYSE in Q3

The combined company will be called Cazoo, provided the deal will meet the approval of AJAX and Cazoo shareholders. It will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange sometime in the third quarter of 2021.

As the special-purpose acquisition company Ajax I will raise around $1.6 billion in proceeds for the company, including $805 million in a cash trust from the SPAC and another $800 million from Ajax’s sponsors, Cazoo said in a statement on Monday. London-based Cazoo will be listed in New York after the deal closes, and Och plans to join the company’s board.

Further, the transaction was led by the AJAX sponsors and D1 Capital Partners and joined by new and existing investors including Altimeter, funds & accounts managed by BlackRock, Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley) and Fidelity Management and Research Company LLC, Marcho Partners, Mubadala Capital, Pelham Capital, Senator Investment Group and Spruce House Partnership.

Alex Chesterman OBE, Founder & CEO of Cazoo, commented: “This announcement is another major milestone in our continued drive to transform the way people buy cars across Europe. We have created the most comprehensive and fully integrated offering in the largest retail sector which currently has very low digital penetration. This deal will provide us with almost $1 billion of further funds to fuel our growth and I am delighted to be partnering with Dan and his team at AJAX to rapidly expand and deliver the best car buying experience to consumers across Europe.”

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