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        <title><![CDATA[Wall Street dreams of Goop IPO tied to ‘aspirational lifestyle’ SPAC filing]]></title>
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        <link>https://usagag.com/2020/09/16/wall-street-dreams-of-goop-ipo-tied-to-aspirational-lifestyle-spac-filing/</link>
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            <media:title type="html">Wall Street dreams of Goop IPO tied to ‘aspirational lifestyle’ SPAC filing</media:title>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In addition to vagina-scented candles and 18-karat gold dumbbells, Goop aficionados may soon be able to buy stock in the health and wellness retailer founded by Gwyneth Paltrow.</p><p>At least that&#8217;s the chatter going around Wall Street after a monied investor launched plans for a new blank-check company focused on investing in an &#8220;aspirational lifestyle&#8221; company.</p><p>Ravi Thakran, a private equity partner and executive of luxury conglomerate LVMH, filed paperwork Wednesday for a new blank-check company called Aspirational Consumer Lifestyle Corp., which is looking to raise $225 million to invest in “businesses with premium brands that offer an aspirational lifestyle experience to consumers.&#8221;</p><p>Such entities — formally known as a special acquisition vehicles or SPACs — have no business operations. They are created simply to raise money to buy an existing company that then takes over their stock listing.</p><p>Thakran&#8217;s SPAC could not be reached for comment about whether it has Paltrow&#8217;s health and wellness brand in its sights, but Wall Streeters say it makes sense.</p><p>&#8220;There aren&#8217;t a lot of private companies that fit the description here,&#8221; said one Wall Street banker who follows SPACs. &#8220;Goop fits, and it has a big enough profile to make SPAC investors happy.&#8221;</p><p>Adding to the intrigue, Thakran’s SPAC plans to raise $225 million, which sources note matches up with Goop’s most recent valuation of $250 million from March 2018.</p><p>“It’s definitely got to be on their radar,” said an investment banker. “It would be a solid business combination, and it would be very on-brand for Goop to do a SPAC while they are this hip.”</p><p>Paltrow founded Goop in 2008 as a weekly email newsletter providing new age health and advice that was often mocked, such as &#8220;eliminate white foods.&#8221; Despite <strong>on-going criticisms</strong> of Goop&#8217;s sometimes oddball offerings (including its recent $75 “<strong>This Smells Like My Vagina</strong>” candle), the actress has grown the company into a national name with more than 175 employees, Goop-branded retail stores, a line at make-up chain Sephora, and a Netflix series called “The Goop Lab.”</p><p>Sephora is owned by LVMH, where Thakran is group president of South Asia, South East Asia and Middle East.</p><p>It’s unclear if Paltrow would be willing to take Goop public through a SPAC, and her company declined to comment. But SPACs — a once backwater route to an IPO for no-name companies — are increasingly being used to create backdoor IPOs for household names like sport betting company DraftKings and electric car maker Nikola.</p><p>High-profile investors are also increasing getting in on the act, including billionaire Bill Ackman and former Goldman Sachs president turned former Trump White House advisor Gary Cohn.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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