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Sard Verbinnen & Co. is helping Planet Labs, which runs the largest fleet of Earth-imaging satellites, go public via a $2.8B merger with the dMY Technology Group IV blank check company.
Koch Strategic Investments, BlackRock, Google and Salesforce founder Marc Benioff’s Time Ventures are kicking in $200M in private investment in public equity financing as part of the transaction.
Founded in 2010 by three NASA scientists, Planet has more than 600 customers using its data in the national security, mapping, agriculture, energy and forestry sectors.
Planet’s goal “is to use space to help life on Earth,” according to CEO Will Marshall.
He said the company’s 200 satellites deliver data via Bloomberg-like terminals to make it simple to consume and expand reach to potentially millions of users across dozens of vertials.
“As the world shifts to a more sustainable economy and more companies and governments set their sustainability and ESG goals, the first step in achieving these objectives is measurement,” said Marshall. “Planet’s daily, global data is foundational in making that transition.”
Planet, which will trade on the New York Stock Exchange, reported an 18 percent rise in revenues to $113M for the fiscal year ended January 2021. It lost $127M.
Sard Verbinnen’s John Christiansen and Cassandra Bujarski handle media for Planet, while ICR Inc. represents dMY Technology Group IV.
Edelman handles Viking Holdings, the river and ocean luxury cruise line that plans to raise $1B via an IPO priced in the $21 to $25 per share range.
Teneo is handling the initial public offering of CVC Capital Partners, one of Europe’s largest private equity firms with nearly $200B in assets under management.
Brunswick Group represents Endeavor Group Holdings as it agrees to go private via its acquisition by Silver Lake technology investment firm, which is handled by Edelman Smithfield.
Tod Donhauser, a nine-year veteran of Edelman, has joined H/Advisors Abernathy as managing director and head of its San Francisco office.
Intelligent Group Ltd, a Hong Kong-based financial PR firm, has priced its initial public offering of 1.9M shares at $4, which is the low end of the $4 to $5 range.
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