Sagard chief executive officer Paul Desmarais III.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Power Corp.’s alternative asset management arm, Sagard Holdings Inc., is set to launch a $200-million special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, targeting businesses in the financial technology sector.
According to a recent regulatory filing, Sagard registered a SPAC under the name Portage Fintech Acquisition Corp., a Cayman Islands tax-exempted business that will be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market
A spokesperson for Sagard declined to comment on the filing.
Sagard manages about $6.1-billion in alternative assets – a category that typically does not include stocks, bonds or cash – as of December, 2020. It has not yet announced any specific companies they are looking to acquire through the SPAC but listed key segments in the financial services sector, including wealth and asset management, consumer and small and medium-sized enterprise finance, insurance, payments, information services and fintech infrastructure.
“While we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business, industry, sector or geographical location, we intend to focus on industries that complement our team’s background and capitalize on our ability to source and acquire a business in the financial technology or financial services ecosystem,” the company said in the filing.
Sagard chief executive officer Paul Desmarais III is no stranger to investing in financial startups, both in Canada and in the United States. Through Sagard’s venture capital arm, Portage3 Ventures, the company has invested in more than 55 fintech companies and investment funds globally, including online financial services provider Wealthsimple Technologies Inc., online lender Borrowell Inc. and Koho Financial Inc., a mobile banking application.
Portag3 has co-invested alongside some of the largest global venture capital investors, including Allianz X, Drive Capital, General Atlantic, GV, Greylock Partners, Meritech Capital Partners, Spark Capital, TCV and Tencent Holdings.
The newly formed SPAC, which was first reported by the Logic, an online technology publication, is expected to launch next month. It will be led by two Sagard senior executives – Adam Felesky, who will be appointed chief executive officer, and Ajay Chowdhery, who will take on the roles of chief financial officer and chief operating officer.
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