Blackstone Group Inc. Alight Solutions is approaching an agreement to be made public through a merger with a special acquisition company with a blank check backed by investor Bill Foley, according to someone familiar with the matter.
The deal for Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. would value Alight, a profit management business, at $ 7.3 billion including debt, the person said, asking that it not be identified because the information was private. The transaction could be announced as soon as Monday.
According to its website, Alight, based in Lincolnshire, Illinois, offers human resources support services such as payroll, health benefits and employee communications for large companies in 188 countries. 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, then told Bloomberg News people familiar with the matter.
Blackstone, Alight and Foley Trasimene declined to comment on the negotiations on the deal. Reuters previously reported the news.
Foley, 76, is a veteran investor who has helped build and run businesses, including Fidelity National Financial Inc., the largest U.S. title insurance firm. The deal follows his other involvement with Blackstone. In December, another of his blank check signatures reached a $ 9 billion deal to make public to Paysafe Group Ltd., the online payments firm with the support of Blackstone and CVC Capital Partners.