A special purpose acquisitions company (SPAC) called Slam, formed by Alex Rodriguez, is said to be in merger talks with the Panini Group in a deal that would value the combined entity at $3 billion or more.
Bloomberg reported late Tuesday that the former big league player’s company is currently talking with the maker of sports stickers and cards that has its corporate offices in Italy. Bloomberg’s Gillian Tan says people “with knowledge of the matter” say “due diligence is in progress and it’s possible terms change or a deal isn’t consummated.”
Rodriguez is the Chief Executive Officer of Slam. He heads the company along with Himanshu Gulati, founder and chairman of Antara Capital. They raised over $500 million in February with a focus on acquiring companies in the sports, media, entertainment, health and other sectors.
On its website, the company says it is “committed to provide more than just financial capital—intellectual capital, strategic advice, and valuable connections—to position an acquired company for long-term profitable growth.”
Panini Group is the parent company of Panini America and has subsidiaries throughout Europe and Latin America where it is a leading publisher of children magazines and books, comics, and other publications. The company employs over 1,200 people around the world, including an office in Dallas, where the company focuses its efforts on NBA, NFL, baseball, soccer, NASCAR and UFC products.
It’s the latest in a round of Wall Street news involving a well-known trading card company. In April, Topps entered into a deal for with Mudrick Capital Acquisition that took the company public and valued the New York-based card and candy maker at $1.3 billion. Topps had record sales of $567 million in 2020, an increase of 23% from the previous year.
