Michael M. Santiago
BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) and Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) are in negotiations to provide debt financing for the merger of two Amazon (AMZN) aggregators, according to a media report.
Branded, a Paris-based company, is in talks to acquire Heyday, based in San Francisco, for $521M in equity to create a new company to be called Essor, which would be valued at more than $1B, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the talks.
The proposed transaction would involve a round of new debt from BlackRock (BLK), Apollo (APO), and Apollo-backed Victory Park Capital that would give Essor more capital to buy distressed direct-to-consumer e-commerce companies, the people told the news organization.
Branded CEO Pierre Poignant would run the new company, and Heyday founder Sebastian Rymarz would become the president of Essor, which is expected to generate annual revenue of $400M, they said.
Aggregators have been having difficulty navigating the turn in business after the pandemic-sparked boom in e-commerce fizzled. Thrasio, which raised the most capital of any aggregator to support its aggressive growth plans, filed for bankruptcy protection in February.
BlackRock (BLK) stock edged down 0.1%and Apollo (APO) stock gained 0.6% in late Monday trading.
