Digital entertainment SPAC Ascendant Digital Acquisition prices upsized $360 million IPO at $10

Ascendant Digital Acquisition, a blank check company targeting an interactive digital entertainment business, raised $360 million by offering 36 million units at $10. The company originally planned to offer 30 million units. Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one-half of a warrant, exercisable at $11.50.

Three unnamed institutional investors indicated on $89 million worth of units in the offering, and the company may raise an additional $250 million at the closing of an acquisition pursuant to a forward purchase agreement with Japanese game developer Nexon (TSE: 3659). At pricing, Ascendant Digital Acquisition commands a market value of $435 million.

The company is led by CEO and Director Mark Gerhard, the co-founder, CEO, and CTO of AI tech and gaming studio Disruptional (fka PlayFusion); COO and Director Riaan Hodgson, the CFO and COO of Beauty Labs International; and President and Director David Gomberg, the co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Disruptional. The company plans to target the "Attention Economy," which it defines as the various converging sectors within interactive entertainment, film and television, music, print and digital books, e-sports, live events, and other forms of consumer entertainment and enabling services and technologies.

Ascendant Digital Acquisition plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol ACND.U. UBS Investment Bank acted as a lead manager on the deal.