GS Acquisition Up; Vertiv To Become Publicly Traded Through Merger

By Michael Dabaie

Special purpose acquisition company GS Acquisition Holdings Corp. (GSAH) shares were trading up 3.4% to $10.80 in heavy volume.

As of recently, about 18 million shares had traded, versus the 65-day average volume of 204,048.

Vertiv Holdings LLC said it will become a publicly traded company through a merger with GS Acquisition.

GS Acquisition is co-sponsored by an affiliate of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and David M. Cote. Vertiv provides digital infrastructure and continuity solutions and is a Platinum Equity portfolio company.

Mr. Cote, chief executive of GS Acquisition and former executive chairman and CEO of Honeywell, will be executive chairman of Vertiv. Vertiv's existing management team will continue to be led by CEO Rob Johnson.

Vertiv said the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020 and at close Vertiv's stock will trade under the ticker symbol VRT.

Upon closing, Vertiv will have an anticipated pro forma enterprise value of about $5.3 billion, the company said. Platinum Equity is expected to hold about 38% of Vertiv Holdings Co. and the sponsor, including Mr. Cote and affiliates of Goldman Sachs, will own about 5%.

Write to Michael Dabaie at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 10, 2019 13:20 ET (18:20 GMT)

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