Vice Media Group’s plan to go public later this year is coming into focus, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Under a proposed deal to merge with blank-check company 7GC & Co Holdings, Vice would remove one of the biggest obstacles it has faced, onerous financial obligations to private-equity investor TPG, people familiar with the matter told the news organization.
The proposed transaction, valued at nearly $3 billion including debt, would leave existing shareholders—including TPG, Walt Disney Co. , A&E Networks Group, merchant bank Raine Group and founder Shane Smith—with a combined 75 percent ownership of the company, the people said. The rest of the company would be owned by Vice’s new investors.
The nearly $3 billion valuation under consideration would be a discount compared with the $5.7 billion valuation set in Vice Media’s last major equity-investment round, a $450 million infusion from TPG in 2017. Read more.
