Playa Hotels & Resorts (PLYA), which owns 13 all-inclusive beach resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean, announced Tuesday it has entered into a merger agreement with Pace Holdings (PACEU), a special purpose acquisition company backed by TPG. The transaction value is estimated at $1.75 billion.
Pace's management has significant experience in the travel business, including co-founders of hotwire.com, and a Chairman of Ryanair. Pace raised $450 million, including the overallotment, in its IPO in September 2015.
Playa originally filed for an IPO in September 2016 that could have raised $300 million. The Amsterdam, Netherlands-based company was founded in 2006 and booked $481 million in sales for the 12 months ended June 30, 2016. It had planned to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol PLYA. BofA Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank were set to be the joint bookrunners on the deal.
