Why is billionaire Bernard Arnault about to get richer?

Bernard Arnault, the world’s third Wealthiest man behind Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, is the latest billionaire to embrace Wall Street’s hot new way to raise money.

Bernard Arnault, the chairman of luxury goods group LVMH (EPA: MC), has a net worth of $157.5 billion, making him the third richest person globally and the richest individual in Europe.

Bernard Arnault’s investment holding company Financière Agache is joining forces with French asset manager Tikehau Capital and two high-profile European bankers to launch a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that will hunt for deals in Europe’s financial services sector.

Diego De Giorgi, a former head of global investment banking at Bank of America (BAC) Merrill Lynch, and Jean-Pierre Mustier, the former CEO of Italian bank UniCredit (UNCFF), will be the operating partners of the company, which will be called Pegasus Europe and list in Amsterdam.

Tikehau Capital and Arnault’s Financière Agache holding company will be strategic and financial sponsors.

Bernard Arnault- who owns brands including Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Givenchy – is sponsoring a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) focused on European finance. A special-purpose acquisition company – or SPAC – is an entity that exists solely to list on the stock exchange to raise money, in the hope of finding and merging with a target company to take it public. Hedge fund boss Bill Ackman floated a $4 billion SPAC last year, while former Credit Suisse boss Tidjane Thiam has one in the pipeline.

Tikehau Capital is a global alternative assetmanagement group with €28.5 billion of assets under management(as of 31 December 2020).