Digital entertainment SPAC Ascendant Digital Acquisition II files for a $300 million IPO

Ascendant Digital Acquisition II, the second blank check company targeting an interactive digital entertainment business, filed on Wednesday with the SEC to raise up to $300 million in an initial public offering.

The New York, NY-based company plans to raise $300 million by offering 30 million units at $10. Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one-third of a warrant, exercisable at $11.50. Certain anchor investors have indicated interest in purchasing up to 55% of the offering. At the proposed deal size, Ascendant Digital Acquisition II would command a market value of $375 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. The group's previous SPAC, Ascendant Digital Acquisition (ACND; -2% from $10 offer price), is pending an acquisition of Beacon Street Group.

Ascendant Digital Acquisition II was founded in 2021 and plans to list on the NYSE. It has not yet chosen a ticker (RC ticker: ADIIU.RC). Goldman Sachs is the sole bookrunner on the deal.