Blackstone Group Inc.’s Alight Solutions is approaching an agreement to go public through a merger with a special check purchase company supported by investor Bill Foley, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The business by Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp would value Alight, a benefits management company, at $ 7.3 billion, including debt, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information was private. The transaction can be announced as early as Monday.
Headquartered in Lincolnshire, Illinois, Alight provides human resource support services, such as payroll, health benefits and employee communications to large companies in 188 countries, according to its website. The company was a division of Aon Plc until Blackstone bought it in 2017 in a transaction valued at up to $ 4.8 billion. Since then, Alight has acquired several other human resources and technology companies.
In 2019, Blackstone postponed its plans for Alight to raise up to $ 800 million in an initial public offering just before the final price due to market conditions, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News then.
Blackstone, Alight and Foley Trasimene declined to comment on the negotiations. Reuters reported earlier.
Foley, 76, is a veteran investor who helped build and lead companies, including Fidelity National Financial Inc., the largest bond insurer in the United States. The deal follows its other involvement with Blackstone. In December, another blank check firm owned by reached a $ 9 billion deal to make public Paysafe Group Ltd., the online payments firm supported by Blackstone and CVC Capital Partners.