Shutterfly in talks to go public via SPAC merger

Any deal could take weeks, some of the people said, and there is no guarantee that the parties will come to an agreement. If they do, it would add Shutterfly to the long list of companies participating in a recent explosion of deals with SPACs, raising money through a public offering with plans to later find one or more companies to merge with.

The Altimar vehicle went public in February, raising $ 345 million to close a deal, which, as usual, will likely include additional privately-raised funds. A previous vehicle, Altimar Acquisition Corp., agreed last year to combine two investment firms and make them public in a $ 12.5 billion deal that was one of the largest blank check transactions at the time.

Founded in 1999, Shutterfly’s eponymous brand helps consumers print their photos on personalized books and gift items. The company owns Lifetouch, which does school photography and operates portrait studios and also has a digital print division for businesses. It first went public in 2006. Apollo bought the company in 2019 for approximately $ 2.6 billion including debt and then combined it with Snapfish LLC to create a larger online photo services player.

Prior to Shutterfly’s leveraged buyout, the outlook had blurred as online photo services became ubiquitous and rivals with ample resources, including Google Photos, captured market share. But the demand for photo keepsakes has increased since the pandemic broke about a year ago, making people nostalgic for past travels and special occasions like weddings and graduations. Shutterfly’s sales growth, which was about flat when Apollo bought it, is now in double digits, one said.

Possibly adding to the appeal of a public listing for Shutterfly and its backers, shares of ecommerce companies such as pet food retailer Chewy Inc.

and Etsy craft marketplace Inc.

performed well during the pandemic. Moonpig Group PLC, the UK equivalent of Shutterfly, went public last month.

SPACs have been a godsend for private equity firms, providing a streamlined alternative to an IPO for their portfolio companies. A steady stream of private equity firms has agreed to go public through SPAC mergers since the blank check frenzy grabbed Wall Street in recent years. Carlyle Group Inc.

is looking for a SPAC deal for Syniverse Technologies LLC that could turn the fortune on the ten-year-old investment, people familiar with the matter said earlier this week.

Write to Cara Lombardo at [email protected] and Miriam Gottfried at [email protected]