Topps is going public in a deal worth an incredible $1.3bn. The 80 year old trading card giant is merging with Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation II and will continue to trade under the Topps name and trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker TOPP when it goes public in the autumn.
First reported by the New York Times’s DealBook, the deal will see Michael Eisner – the former CEO and chairman of Disney – stay in his current role as the chairman of Topps. Eisner – whose investment company The Tornante Co partnered with Madison Dearborn Partners to acquire Topps in 2007 – will also maintain his ownership stake in the new company.
The deal follows what Topps has billed as a year of record sales of $567 million in 2020, a 23 per cent jump on the previous year. While the collectables specialist has seen a surge in popularity over the course of the pandemic that led to the recent sale of one Mickey Mantle baseball card selling for $5.2 million, it has insisted that the uptick in the memorabilia and trading card market was set in place prior to the global crisis.
Recognised in the UK for its Topps Match Attax collection, the company has made a success of extending beyond sports trading cards, too with a growing licensing portfolio that includes heavyweight entertainment properties, Marvel and Star Wars.
Further investors in the deal include SPAC sponsor Mudrick Captial, GAMCO Investors, and Wells Capital Management.
- Hardcover Book
- Baver, Kristin (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 320 Pages - 04/06/2021 (Publication Date) - DK (Publisher)
