Benzinga | Apr 23, 2021 07:05AM EDT

Bespoke Capital Acquisition Corp. Reports Wasatch Global Investors To Increase Current Investment By $100M To $128M

Bespoke Capital Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:BSPE) (TSX:BC) (TSX:BC) ("BCAC" or "Bespoke") and Vintage Wine Estates ("VWE"), one of the fastest growing U.S. wine producers with a leading direct-to-customer platform, today announced that Wasatch Global Investors ("Wasatch") will increase its current investment in the combined BCAC-VWE (the "Company") by $100 million, from $28 million announced in February 2021 to a total of $128 million. The new investment will take the form of Company common shares at $10 per share, Bespoke's IPO price. The investment is subject to the closing of the BCAC-VWE business combination.

The Wasatch investment provides:

* Significant incremental capital to support VWE's acquisition strategy. VWE has successfully acquired 20 wineries in the past 10 years and believes that U.S. wine industry conditions are increasingly positive for synergistic acquisitions.

* A cornerstone institutional investor in Wasatch.

* Attractive investment terms for existing VWE and BCAC shareholders with the investment being made in a $10.00 per share common equity PIPE.

On February 4, 2021, BCAC announced a definitive agreement to combine with Vintage Wine Estates. At that time, Wasatch invested $28 million in common equity. The combined company will be named Vintage Wine Estates, Inc. Its common stock will remain listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the new ticker symbol "VWE" and on the TSX under the symbol "VWE.U". The warrants will remain listed on the TSX under "VWE.WT.U". BCAC is hosting its shareholder meeting on Thursday, May 6, 2021.

Pat Roney, founder and CEO of Vintage Wine Estates, commented: "This investment bolsters the capital available to us to capitalize on growth opportunities we see. We are pleased to partner with Wasatch and look forward to working with them, BCAC and our other new investors in executing on our strategy."