Bloomberg
Betty Liu’s D & Z SPAC Said In Talks to Merge With Simplifi
(Bloomberg) — D & Z Media Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company co-sponsored by Intercontinental Exchange Inc., is in talks to merge with Simplifi Holdings Inc., an advertising technology platform, according to people with knowledge of the matter.The SPAC is seeking to raise new equity to support a transaction that values the combined entity at $1.5 billion or more, said one of the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public. Terms aren’t finalized and it’s possible talks could fall apart.Representatives for D & Z, Simplifi and private equity firm GTCR, Simplifi’s majority owner, declined to comment.Simplifi, which also does business as Simpli.fi, makes software that enables buyers of localized advertising to execute campaigns across various digital formats and devices. It says its platform is used by over 30,000 active advertisers including agencies, media groups, networks, and trading desks that collectively run 130,000 active daily campaigns.Simplifi is led by co-founders Chief Executive Officer Frost Prioleau and Chief Technology Officer Paul Harrison. The company recently bolstered its board with the appointment of Lynda Clarizio, a former Nielsen and AppNexus executive.D & Z is led by Chairman and CEO Betty Liu, a media entrepreneur and alumnus of both the New York Stock Exchange and Bloomberg TV. The blank-check firm raised about $288 million in a January initial public offering and said it would focus on finding a targets in the media and education technology sectors. Intercontinental Exchange and Navigation Capital Partners are co-sponsors of the SPAC, filings show.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.