作者：莉安娜·贝克私募股权支持的网络防御技术公司RedLattice表示，将通过一家空白支票公司Bold Eagle Acquisition Corp.合并上市。
By Liana Baker Private equity-backed cyber defense technology firm RedLattice said it’s going public via a merger with blank-check company Bold Eagle Acquisition Corp.
根据周一的一份声明，该交易对RedLattice的估值约为12.5亿美元，包括交易前的债务。该声明证实了彭博新闻社早些时候的报道。
The deal values RedLattice at about $1.25 billion including debt before the transaction, according to a statement Monday confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report.
专注于航空航天和国防领域的私募股权公司AE Industrial Partners将成为交易完成后该公司的最大股东。该公司于2023年收购了RedLattice的多数股权。
Aerospace- and defense-focused private equity firm AE Industrial Partners, which bought a majority stake in RedLattice in 2023, will be the company’s biggest shareholder after the deal closes.
AE Industrial Partners管理合伙人柯克·科纳特表示：“我们相信RedLattice是运营性网络情报领域的品类领导者，拥有无与伦比的技术能力。”
“We believe RedLattice is the category leader in operational cyber intelligence with unmatched technical capabilities,” said Kirk Konert, managing partner at AE Industrial Partners.
RedLattice首席执行官安迪·博伊德曾担任中央情报局网络情报中心主任，他将领导合并后的公司。
RedLattice Chief Executive Officer Andy Boyd, a former director of the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence, will lead the combined company.
RedLattice总部位于弗吉尼亚州尚蒂利，是一家全球防务科技公司，为情报界、执法部门和军事组织提供服务。根据该公司网站，它提供美国政府及其盟友使用的网络情报工具。
Based in Chantilly, Virginia, RedLattice is a global defense tech company that services the intelligence community, law enforcement and military organizations. It provides cyber intelligence tools used by the US government and its allies, according to the company’s website.
据彭博新闻社当时报道，2024年，AE Industrial Partners以最高9亿美元的交易收购了以色列安全公司Paragon，并将其与RedLattice合并。
In 2024, AE Industrial Partners bought Israeli security company Paragon in a deal worth up to $900 million to merge it with RedLattice, Bloomberg News reported at the time.
Paragon由以色列前总理埃胡德·巴拉克于2019年联合创立，提供旨在帮助执法和情报机构收集使用手机上加密服务发送的信息的工具。美国移民和海关执法局在2024年达成了一项价值200万美元的交易，购买Paragon工具，该交易被拜登政府叫停，但去年被特朗普政府重新启动。
Paragon, co-founded by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2019, provides tools designed to help law enforcement and intelligence agencies gather messages sent using encrypted services on phones US Immigration and Custom Enforcement struck a $2 million deal in 2024 to buy Paragon tools, a deal that was stopped by the Biden administration but reactivated last year by the Trump administration.
根据声明，该交易的部分收益将用于为Paragon交易中的现金或有对价提供资金。
Some of the proceeds of the deal will go toward funding a cash earn-out from the Paragon deal, according to the statement.
博伊德在接受采访时表示：“在美国背景下，我们只向美国联邦政府、情报界、军方和联邦执法部门销售。”
“We only sell, in the US context, to the US federal government, intelligence community, military and federal law enforcement,” Boyd said in an interview.
博伊德表示，该公司从事漏洞研究，并将其转化为产品，供拥有法律授权、可针对使用手机、电脑和网络设备的对手采取行动的客户使用。
Boyd said the company does vulnerability research and turns it into products used by customers that have legal authority to go against adversaries using phones, computers and network devices.
“我们最畅销的产品具备这样一项功能：执法用户可以实际把搜查令录入程序，并填写搜查令的起始和到期日期，这样该工具就不能在搜查令期限之外用于特定目标，”博伊德说。
“Our biggest selling product has the capability where law enforcement users can actually enter the warrant into the program and put the warrant begin and expiration date so that the tool can’t be used for a particular target beyond the warrant period,” Boyd said.
他说，该公司也向美国盟友销售产品，包括欧洲和东亚的民族国家以及经过严格审查程序的民主国家。博伊德补充说，该公司的工作没有商业应用。
He said the company also sells to US allies, including European and East Asian nation states and democracies that go through a strict vetting process. The company’s work doesn’t have commercial applications, Boyd added.
Bold Eagle在2024年的首次公开募股中筹集了2.5亿美元，由首席执行官伊莱·贝克以及联席董事长哈里·斯隆和杰夫·萨甘斯基运营。斯隆和萨甘斯基是2019年与DraftKings合并的那家特殊目的收购公司背后的推手。Bold Eagle的股价周五收于10.71美元，使这家SPAC的市值约为6.17亿美元。
Bold Eagle raised $250 million in its initial public offering in 2024 and is run by CEO Eli Baker and co-chairmen Harry Sloan and Jeff Sagansky. Sloan and Sagansky were behind the special purpose acquisition company that merged with DraftKings in 2019. Bold Eagle’s shares closed Friday at $10.71 giving the SPAC a market value of about $617 million.
RedLattice交易预计将提供最高约6.1亿美元的总收益，其中包括来自新老投资者的3.35亿美元承诺资本，以及来自Bold Eagle信托账户的最高2.75亿美元。
The RedLattice deal is expected to provide up to about $610 million of gross proceeds, including $335 million of committed capital from new and existing investors, plus as much as $275 million from Bold Eagle’s trust account.
投资公司Loomis Sayles将锚定2.75亿美元的可转换票据。
Investment firm Loomis Sayles will anchor $275 million in convertible notes.
根据SPAC Research汇编的数据，SPAC发起人今年迄今已完成34宗合并交易，较2021年高峰期的一波活动急剧下降；当时约有200家空白支票公司完成交易。
SPAC sponsors have closed 34 mergers so far this year, a sharp drop from the rush of activity at the height of 2021, when roughly 200 blank-check firms completed deals, according to data compiled by SPAC Research.
SPAC Research的数据显示，Eagle Equity Partners团队已完成8宗SPAC交易，股价表现大多为正。DraftKings和Target Hospitality Corp.表现突出，股价较其10美元的IPO发行价上涨了一倍多。不过，Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings Inc.已损失超过95%的价值，而更名为Firy Inc.并完成重组的Skillz Inc.则让长期持有者承受了类似损失。
The Eagle Equity Partners team has closed eight SPAC deals with mostly positive share performance, the SPAC Research data show. DraftKings and Target Hospitality Corp. are the standouts, with shares more than doubling from their $10 IPO price. Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings Inc., though, has lost more than 95% of its value while Skillz Inc., which re-branded and was restructured as Firy Inc., has saddled long-term holders with similar losses.
高盛集团为Bold Eagle提供咨询，而杰富瑞金融集团则为RedLattice提供咨询。
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. advised Bold Eagle, while Jefferies Financial Group Inc. advised RedLattice.