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Coles and Ledecky's second SPAC Northern Star Investment II files for a $300 million IPO

January 6, 2021

Northern Star Investment II, the second blank check company formed by Joanna Coles and SPAC veteran Jonathan Ledecky, filed on Wednesday with the SEC to raise up to $300 million in an initial public offering.

The New York, NY-based company plans to raise $300 million by offering 30 million units at $10. Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one-fourth of a warrant, exercisable at $11.50. At the proposed deal size, Northern Star Investment II would command a market value of $375 million.

The company is led by CEO and Chairperson Joanna Coles, who is currently the Executive Producer of ABC Freeform's "The Bold Type" and previously served as Chief Content Officer of Hearst Magazine and Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan, and COO Jonathan Ledecky, Chairman of Ironbound Partners and co-owner of the NHL's New York Islanders. Management's previous SPAC, Northern Star Acquisition (STIC; +48% from $10 offer price), went public in November 2020 and recently announced a merger agreement with BARK, the company behind dog-focused subscription services BarkBox and Super Chewer.

Northern Star Investment II plans to target businesses primarily in the beauty, wellness, self-care, fashion, e-commerce, subscription, and digital-media space. It also plans to look for businesses which create, produce, own, distribute and/or market content, products and services or facilitate the sharing economy.

Northern Star Investment II was founded in 2020 and plans to list on the NYSE but has not selected a symbol (RC ticker: STII.RC). The company filed confidentially on December 4, 2020. Citi is the sole bookrunner on the deal.