WeWork accepts a PSPC deal that would make the start-up public

WeWork has agreed to merge with a special purpose acquisition company, people familiar with the matter say, in a deal that would go public with the shared office provider almost two years after its high-profile failure to launch an introduction. on the traditional stock exchange.

The planned merger with BowX Acquisition Corp. PSPC would value WeWork at $ 9 billion, including debt, the people said. WeWork would also raise $ 1.3 billion, including $ 800 million in a so-called private equity investment, or PIPE, from Insight Partners, funds managed by Starwood Capital Group, Fidelity Management and ‘others, people said.

In January, the Wall Street Journal reported that WeWork was in talks to partner with BowX.

WeWork is a major player in the flexible office space market. She signs long-term leases with landlords, then after renovating a space and furnishing it, sublets small offices or even entire buildings to tenants for as little as a month at a time. If the merger were to complete in the coming months as planned, that would cap what has been a long and bumpy road to a listing for WeWork.

The company is using a torrent of new PSPCs to accomplish what it failed to achieve in 2019, when public investors rejected the losing company and its visionary but erratic leader, Adam Neumann, who later resigned. of his position as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Also hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which has emptied offices across the country, WeWork has closed sites, renegotiated leases and cut thousands of jobs in a bid to cut spending.