InterPrivate IV InfraTech Partners, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), today filed its Form S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), whereby it intends to raise $250m through an initial public offering (IPO) to invest in digital infrastructure. Specifically, the company expects to launch its initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq stock exchange, through the issuance of 25 million units at a price of $10.00 per unit. Indeed, the offering is being led by joint book-running managers Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.
Overall, the InterPrivate IV InfraTech Partners vehicle will invest in the technology, media, and telecom (TMT) infrastructure sector, with a focus on companies that have an enterprise value of $1bn or greater. Notably, the company’s management team and board of directors has experience in both the towers and data center sectors of digital infrastructure. Indeed, this experience includes personnel from key digital infrastructure companies, American Tower and CyrusOne.
Investment Themes – InterPrivate IV InfraTech Partners
InterPrivate IV InfraTech Partners considers that several secular trends exist which will continue to drive persistent demand and thus growth of the world’s digital infrastructure. Indeed, the pandemic has forced global workforces to be remote and decentralized. In turn, this has made companies even more dependent upon the adoption of virtual collaboration and cloud-enabled services. Additionally, these companies and consumers are driving an exponential increase in the number and variety of Internet of Things devices.
Overall, organizations, businesses, governments, and individuals are going to be digitally-enabled by default. In turn, this will continue to necessitate the growth in scale and complexity of the world’s digital infrastructure assets. Therefore, InterPrivate IV InfraTech Partners SPAC expects a robust digital infrastructure opportunity set to invest the Initial Public Offering (IPO) proceeds into.
Management Team and Sponsorship
InterPrivate IV InfraTech Partners SPAC is controlled by its Chairman, Ahmed Fattouh and InterPrivate, a New York-based private equity firm, which Ahmed Fattouh founded in 2017. Indeed, InterPrivate invests on behalf of a consortium of family offices in partnership with independent sponsors.
InterPrivate IV InfraTech Partners will rely on the experience of its management team for sourcing, valuation, diligence, and execution capabilities post-IPO. Through this experience, the company will be able to analyze a significant pipeline of investment opportunities. Specifically, InterPrivate IV InfraTech Partners will leverage the experience of the following individuals, many of which have digital infrastructure backgrounds:
Ahmed Fattouh – Chairman
Fattouh has over 25 years of experience in private equity investing and sourcing & executing mergers and acquisitions transactions. Importantly, Fattouh has blank check company experience. This includes serving as Chairman and CEO of InterPrivate Acquisition Corp., which announced its intent to combine with Aeva Inc., in November 2020. Furthermore, he is a senior advisor to Tuscan Holdings, which announced its intent to combine with Microvast, in February 2021.
Prior to InterPrivate, Fattouh was a Founding Member and Chief Executive Officer of Landmark Value Investments, an asset management firm. He also served as the Managing Member of Landmark Value Strategies, Landmark Activist Strategies, Landmark Credit Strategies, and the Landmark Real Assets Fund, among others.
Additionally, Fattouh is a former member of the private equity group at Investcorp International. Finally, he was previously part of the mergers and acquisitions department of Morgan Stanley in New York.
Kevin Timmons – Chief Executive Officer and Director
Timmons, over a nine-year period, helped grow the $525m acquisition of CyrusOne into the world’s third largest publicly-traded data center REIT, with an enterprise value of over $10bn. Prior to CyrusOne, he led Microsoft’s global data center team as General Manager of Data Center Services. Under Timmons’ leadership, he fundamentally changed the way Microsoft designed, developed, and operated its worldwide data center assets. Additionally, with Microsoft, he opened four of the world’s largest data centers for the company.
David Withers – President
Withers was CEO and Co-Founder of Renasar Technologies, an infrastructure software company that was acquired by EMC. He also served as VP of Technology for Global Platform Engineering at EMC/Dell post-acquisition. Prior to Renasar, Withers held executive and leadership roles as an operator at Nebula, Ocarina (acquired by Dell), Isilon (acquired by EMC), PolyServe (acquired by HP), Access Graphics (acquired by GE), and APC (acquired by Schneider).
James Eisenstein – Director
Eisenstein is Co-Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Grupo TorreSur (owned by Providence Equity Partners). Grupo TorreSur is the largest independent wireless tower company in Latin America. Previously, he served on the Board of Directors of Eaton Towers, a pan-African wireless tower company. Eisenstein served in this role from 2012 until Eaton Towers’ sale in 2019 to American Tower Corporation for $1.9bn. During the same period, Eisenstein also sat on the Board of Directors of CTI Towers. Indeed, CTI Towers was owned by Comcast Ventures and sold to Melody Investment Advisors in September 2020.
Prior to co-founding Grupo TorreSur, Eisenstein was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Optasite Holding Company from 2003 to 2008, until it was sold to SBA Communications. Additionally, from 1995 to 2003, Eisenstein co-founded and served in various roles at American Tower Corporation. Specifically, these included Chief Operating Officer and Chief Development Officer.
Gary Wojtaszek – Director
Wojtaszek was President & Chief Executive Officer and part of the board of directors of CyrusOne from 2012 to 2020. Prior to becoming President of CyrusOne, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Cincinnati Bell. At Cincinnati Bell, he had responsibility for the data center business and oversaw CyrusOne’s spin-off and IPO. Wojtaszek is currently serving on the board of directors of GDS, a leader in the China data center market.
Digital Infrastructure Public Investment Vehicles – Growing in Presence
InterPrivate IV InfraTech Partners SPAC’s plans for an initial public offering (IPO) closely follows similar capital raises from two digital infrastructure funds targeting a public listing.
Firstly, in January 2021, Cordiant Capital, a private equity firm, announced its intention to raise £300m through an IPO. Specifically, this was done through a newly created fund called Cordiant Digital Infrastructure. Ultimately, Cordiant Digital Infrastructure exceeded its initial £300m capital raise target, with a £370m close of its IPO.
Secondly, in February 2021, Triple Point, an investment manager, announced its intention to raise £400m through an IPO. Specifically, Triple Point is pursuing this through a new fund called Digital 9 Infrastructure.
