Cantor Fitzgerald Looks To Buy Real Estate Brokerage With Latest SPAC
Cantor Fitzgerald is raising $400M for another blank check company, this time looking at possibly acquiring a real estate brokerage.
CF Acquisition Corp. IV, led by Cantor executives Howard Lutnick, Anshu Jain and Paul Pion, filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday. With this company, CF Acquisition Corp. is looking to acquire at least one business with a value of around $800M to $2B or more.
Though the filing states the company plans to “pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business, industry, sector or geographical location,” it is specifically focusing on brokerage, health care and technology in order to capitalize on the management team’s background. The focus will therefore be targeting companies in the financial services, health care, real estate services, technology and software industries, per the filing.
Specifically when it comes to brokerage, the filing notes the operators of CF Acquisition Corp. believe Cantor’s model of compensating brokers in part through equity is “conducive” to brokerage businesses.
“We believe that this structure, which we may use if we acquire a brokerage business, promotes an entrepreneurial culture that will enable us to further build such business by attracting key producers in key markets and services,” the filing states.
Cantor already has brokerage investments, having bought Newmark in 2011 before taking it public in 2018.
Last month, another Cantor Fitzgerald-sponsored SPAC, CF Finance Acquisition Corp. II, reached a merger agreement with Silicon Valley-based View, a company that creates smart windows that tint the glass to optimize natural light. The deal will take SoftBank-backed View public at an expected valuation of $1.6B.
The venture is just the latest in a slew of blank check companies in the world of commercial real estate. This summer, an offshoot of Miami-based Lionheart Capital filed with the SEC a plan to raise $200M to acquire a proptech company.
Benchmark Real Estate Group has also been looking to raise up to $200M for a SPAC called Property Solutions Acquisition Corp. that would target property technology or real estate service firms, as Bisnow reported in August. CBRE and Tishman Speyer have each launched a SPAC with similar acquisition targets.
