All eyes are on L&F Acquisition Corp, launched by former chair of Kirkland & Ellis, Jeff Hammes, and CEO of Keller Lenker, Adam Gerchen. It was assumed that the SPAC would focus on acquiring a legal tech firm, however, the pool of potential targets expanded to include companies focused on Governance, Risk, and Compliance.
An LFJ Conversation with Jonathan Stroud
All eyes are on L&F Acquisition Corp, launched by former chair of Kirkland & Ellis, Jeff Hammes, and CEO of Keller Lenker, Adam Gerchen. It was assumed that the SPAC would focus on acquiring a legal tech firm, however, the pool of potential targets expanded to include companies focused on Governance, Risk, and Compliance.
Law.com details that it was then that Gerchen and Hammes reached an agreement with ZeroFox to take the company public. The expected valuation is about $1.4 billion.
The complex and ambitious deal will also include acquiring IDX—a data breach response and digital privacy protection firm. This will enable the company to offer solutions for privacy and protection from cyber-attacks.
It’s been suggested that time is a key factor in this deal. A SPAC has only two years from inception to securing a deal—otherwise, it can face liquidation. Since no one wants to risk that, it makes sense to expand the options for acquisition.
According to Scott Mozarsky, formerly of Bloomberg Law and Vannin Capital, getting a good deal done requires a willing buyer and seller—plus impeccable timing. Mozarsky suggests that Hammes and Gerchen could have focused solely on the legal market and come up with a deal—but seem to have stumbled into the existing deal instead.
