Greg Beard, a former senior partner at private equity company Apollo Global Management Inc., plans to raise $200 million in an IPO for a blank-check acquisition firm focused on the energy sector, according to people familiar with the matter.

Greg Beard
Greg Beard

Beard’s special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) will file for an IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the coming weeks, one of the sources said.

The offering size and other details could still change, and are subject to market conditions, the sources added, requesting anonymity as the plans are confidential.

Beard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Beard headed Apollo’s global natural resources group for nearly a decade until late 2019, when he moved to an adviser role as the private equity firm shuffled the group’s management. Beard left Apollo in June 2020, according to his LinkedIn profile.

More recently, Beard became senior adviser to Houston-based private investment firm Andros Capital Partners, launched last year and focused on the oil and gas industry.

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SPACs are shell companies that raise money through IPOs to take a private company public. They have emerged as one of Wall Street’s most popular investment vehicles over the past year.

SPACs which have merged with companies focused on the transition to clean energy, such as electric vehicles, have proved particularly popular with investors.

Apollo-backed Spartan Energy Acquisition Corp., launched in 2018 with Beard as chairman, bought electric-car maker Fisker Inc. at a $2.9 billion valuation in July last year.

Beard resigned from Spartan’s board in June last year, according to a regulatory filing. No reason was given for his departure, but this was the same month he left Apollo.