JD Durkin: He and his team also just rang the closing bell down here at the NYSE: Andrew Heyer, lead sponsor of Haymaker Acquisition Corp. V. Thanks for taking the time. Congratulations on ringing the bell.
Andrew Heyer: Thank you. Thank you.
JD Durkin: Not your first time doing this. What was the experience like for you and your team, being down here at the NYSE on such a big day?
Andrew Heyer: Well, we had Fed Day and megacap earnings, so there’s a lot going on. It was a big day, without a doubt. I happened to be coming from another board meeting, so I missed a lot of the action today. But it was great to be here. I’ve been here before, as you pointed out, and it’s always a pleasure to come down here.
JD Durkin: For people who might be a bit unfamiliar with your previous iterations in the space, or at least what you’re focused on today, tell us a bit more about Haymaker Acquisition Corp. V, and ultimately, through this process, what you’re hoping to accomplish.
Andrew Heyer: Okay. So obviously, Haymaker V is our fifth SPAC. It’s $287 million. We raised it back in September. It was actually a very seamless process for us, having been successful with four previous SPACs. You know, our focus has generally been on consumer businesses, although the last one was not a consumer business. But more importantly, our focus is on merging our SPAC with highly successful, established companies that have growth. So it’s a little bit different than some of the other SPACs, which are earlier-stage focused or industry-specialized, like biotech and such. We’re much more focused on consumer, which is my background.
JD Durkin: Okay. I’m sure there’s a lot about potential acquisition targets you can’t quite yet talk about. But give me a general sense of how you’re thinking about the macroeconomic backdrop. Are there particular types of companies or industries that you think are particularly attractive in this ecosystem?
Andrew Heyer: Well, again, you know, within almost any industry, you can find opportunity. And, you know, I’ve been doing this a long time, so I’ve seen a lot, good and bad, over the years. I’ve invested a bunch in fast food, in food production companies. My other SPACs, though: one is a leisure-focused company, the largest company running spas on cruise ships, a company called OneSpaWorld. And one of the other SPACs is a company called ARKO, A-R-K-O. Excuse me, ARKO, not Arco, which is actually the fifth-largest chain of convenience stores in the US.
So, like I said, established businesses that have growth characteristics. The reason I named my original private equity firm Mistral was because the mistral is the wind, and I like to invest in things that have the wind at their back. That was the whole genesis of the name.
JD Durkin: Before I let you go, how would you describe the current environment for SPACs overall? Obviously, this was a theme we were talking a lot about back around 2021. It somewhat got quiet for a year, but we’ve really had a resurgence here in the last 12 to 18 months, it seems like.
Andrew Heyer: Well, I think, from the SPAC investor’s point of view, it’s kind of a no-brainer, right? They’re buying, essentially, a share in a company that owns a trust filled with Treasuries, and they’re getting a warrant for free. So there’s no downside, with a lot of upside. Having said that, like I said, we focus on, I hate to put it this way, but we focus on real, established businesses, not venture businesses. And there’s a lot out there, because there are a lot of companies that would like to be public, and they’re seeing SPACs as a potentially better way to get public than a traditional IPO. So that’s really our target market. And there’s an awful lot sitting in private equity funds looking for a way out.
JD Durkin: Yeah, I have no doubt about that. Congratulations on all the success with the previous iterations, and best of luck with this one on the path forward. Andrew Heyer, lead sponsor, Haymaker Acquisition Corp. V. Good to see you here today.
Andrew Heyer: Thanks. Thanks for having me.
