GPAT

Withdrawn

GP-Act III Acquisition Corp.

Raised
$250M
CIK
1834526
SPAC Ticker
GPATU
Focus
Consumer, Food, Beverage, Wellness, Healthcare, Pet Care, Education, Technology
External link: SEC Filings

SPAC Team

Leadership

Fersen Lamas Lambranho, Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors

Mr. Lambranho is a member of the board and Chairman of GP Investments. He joined the firm in 1998 and became a managing director in 1999. Prior to joining GP, Mr. Lambranho was CEO of Lojas Americanas, a company that adopts a unique approach in order to better serve its customers, offering a physical platform with different store formats, in addition to having a digital platform, with various brands, where he worked for 12 years and was a board member from 1998 to 2003. Currently, Mr. Lambranho serves on the boards of Centauro, GP Advisors, Spice Private Equity (Bermuda) Ltd., The Craftory and Leon Restaurants Ltd.

Mr. Lambranho previously chaired the board of GP Investments Acquisition Corp. (the first special purpose acquisition company sponsored by GP Investments) and served on the boards of Magnesita, BRMalls, San Antonio, Allis, Estácio, Tele Norte Leste Participações, São Carlos Empreendimentos e Participações, Playcenter, Shoptime, Farmasa, BR Properties and Americanas.com.

Mr. Lambranho was further Chairman of the board of directors of Magnesita and is a board member of several non-profit entities, such as Fundação Bienal de São Paulo. Mr. Lambranho holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and a MSc degree in business administration from COPPEAD-UFRJ. He also completed the Owner President Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

We believe Mr. Lambranho’s qualifications to serve on our board of directors include his education, his investment experience and his numerous directorships.

Irwin Simon, Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors

Mr. Simon has more than 30 years of business experience spanning many domestic and international leadership and operating roles. During his career, Mr. Simon has executed over 50 deals worth approximately $7.5 billion (net of divestitures) (including Aphria’s ongoing business combination with Tilray that is described below).

Mr. Simon founded The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN) in 1993, which became a leading organic and natural products company with a mission to be the leading marketer, manufacturer and seller of organic and natural, better-for-you products, committed to growing sustainably while continuing to implement environmentally sound business practices and manufacturing processes. Mr. Simon led Hain Celestial for more than 25 years and grew the business to approximately $3.0 billion in net sales with operations in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and served as Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman through 2018.

Following his time at Hain Celestial, in December 2018, Mr. Simon joined Aphria, a leading global cannabis company, as the Chairman of the Board and became its Chief Executive Officer in March 2019. Mr. Simon’s extensive deal sourcing track record and execution of complex mergers and acquisitions, as well as implementing corporate operational improvements, have helped turn Aphria into a leading global cannabis company. Notably, as Aphria’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, Mr. Simon recently oversaw Aphria’s acquisition of SweetWater Brewing Company, one of the largest independent craft brewers in the United States and owner of the flagship 420 beverage brand. Mr. Simon is currently spearheading Aphria’s ongoing business combination with Tilray, a global pioneer in cannabis research, cultivation, production and distribution, which would create the world’s largest cannabis company based on pro forma annual revenue. Upon completion of the business combination, Mr. Simon is expected to lead the combined company as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Simon served as Executive Chairman of Act II Global Acquisition Corp. until its business combination with Whole Earth Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: FREE), a Chicago-based packaged foods company focused on the “better for you” consumer packaged goods and ingredients space. Mr. Simon has served as Executive Chairman of Whole Earth Brands since June 2020 and also serves on the Board of Directors at Tulane University and on the Board of Trustees at Poly Prep Country Day School and is Presiding Director at MDC Partners Inc., a provider of marketing, activation and communications solutions and service. Moreover, Mr. Simon is the owner of Cape Breton Eagles, a Major Junior Hockey Club and Co-Owner of St. John’s Edge, a Canadian professional basketball team.

Prior to Hain Celestial, Mr. Simon was employed in various marketing and sales positions at SlimFast Foods Company, a dietary supplement foods company, and The Häagen-Dazs Company, a frozen dessert company, which became a division of Grand Metropolitan, a multi-national luxury brands company, where his responsibilities included managing the franchisee system and company-owned retail stores.

He also served as Director of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the largest retail bookseller in the United States until 2018, and served as a Board Member of Jarden Corporation for 14 years, from 2003 to 2017.

Mr. Simon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Saint Mary’s University.

We believe Mr. Simon’s qualifications to serve on our board of directors include his education, his investment experience, including in relation to special purpose acquisition companies, and his numerous directorships.

Antonio Bonchristiano, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Mr. Bonchristiano is the Chief Executive Officer of GP Investments. He joined GP Investments in 1993 and has been a Managing Director since 1995. Prior to joining GP Investments, Mr. Bonchristiano was a Partner at Johnston Associates Inc., a finance consultancy based in London, and worked for Salomon Brothers Inc. in London and New York. Currently, Mr. Bonchristiano serves as a member of the boards of directors of Ambev S.A. (part of Anheuser-Busch Inbev, which was born from the union between the pioneering spirit of Ambev, with the Belgian quality of Interbrew and the tradition of Anheuser-Busch), BR Properties, GP Advisors, and Rimini Street. Mr. Bonchristiano previously was the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial Officer and a Director of GP Investments Acquisition Corp.

Mr. Bonchristiano is or was also on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including Fundação Estudar in São Paulo, Brazil and John Carter Brown Library (Providence, Rhode Island, United States).

Previously, Mr. Bonchristiano served as a member of the boards of directors of BHG, Estácio, LAHotels, Sé Supermarkets, ALL, Kuala, CEMAR, Gafisa, Hopi Hari, Submarino, Equatorial, Geodex Communication, Sascar, BRMalls, Tempo and Magnesita Refratários, San Antonio International and Playcenter. He was also previously the Chief Financial Officer of SuperMar Supermercados and Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Submarino. He was also Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of BR Properties SA, officer of Geodex Communication, Contax Participações and IRO of ABC Supermarkets.

Mr. Bonchristiano holds a bachelor’s degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from the University of Oxford.

We believe Mr. Bonchristiano’s qualifications to serve on our board of directors include his extensive experience in private equity, numerous directorship roles and his financial expertise.

Rodrigo Boscolo, Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Boscolo is a Managing Director and the Chief Financial Officer of GP Investments. Mr. Boscolo’s role encompasses deploying the firm’s proprietary capital in North America and Europe, as well as managing the firm’s global finance, treasury, technology, investor relations and corporate development functions. Since joining GP Investments in 2010, Mr. Boscolo has led or was involved in multiple transactions in a broad range of geographies and industries, particularly in the technology, business services, consumer, restaurants and retail sectors.

Mr. Boscolo also serves or has served on the Boards of Directors of GP Advisors, Spice Private Equity (Bermuda) Ltd., and of several portfolio companies, including Leon Restaurants, The Craftory (where he is an alternate Director), Food First Global Restaurants, Magnesita, Allis and Sascar. Previously, Mr. Boscolo worked as a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group from 2008 to 2010. Mr. Boscolo is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned an M.B.A. from the Wharton School in 2014 and a M.A. in International Studies from the School of Arts and Sciences at the Lauder Institute in 2016. Mr. Boscolo also holds a bachelor’s degree in business from University of São Paulo and a M.S. from Kedge Business School, in Marseille, France.

Asha Daniere, Director

Asha Daniere is a strategic and legal advisor in the media and technology sectors. From 2012 through February 2020, she was Executive Vice-President, Legal & Business Affairs at Blue Ant Media, a global multi-platform media company. Prior to her position at Blue Ant, Ms. Daniere was Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Score Media Inc., a sports media company (TSE: SCR). Prior to her role at Score Media, Ms. Daniere was General Counsel at Fun Technologies Inc., an Internet start-up that previously traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and was later sold to Liberty Media Inc. during her tenure.

Currently Ms. Daniere serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of Canopy Rivers Inc. (TSE: RIV), a cannabis company, where she also serves on the Audit Committee and acted as Chair of the Special Committee presiding over the buy-out of the company’s controlling shareholder. She also serves on the Board of Directors and Audit Committee of MDC Partners Inc., a provider of marketing, activation and communications solutions and service. Ms. Daniere sits on the Board of Directors of the Toronto International Film Festival, where she is Chair of the governance committee. Previously Ms. Daniere served on the Board of Directors of Tangelo Games Corp, an online games company where she was Chair of the Compensation and Governance Committee.

Ms. Daniere received her Juris Doctor degree from Tulane Law School and her B.A. degree from the University of Toronto.

We believe Ms. Daniere’s qualifications to serve on our board of directors include her significant experience in media and technology, as well as experience assessing and mitigating regulatory and legal risk in public companies.

Ira Lamel, Director

Mr. Lamel has over 40 years of experience in finance and accounting. He currently serves as a Director of Whole Earth Brands, Inc., a global platform focused on the “better for you” consumer packaged goods and ingredients space (after having previously served as the Chief Financial Officer of Act II Global Acquisition Corp.) and Novanta Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVT), a leading global supplier of core technology solutions for medical and advanced industrial original equipment manufacturers.

Mr. Lamel was Senior Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer of The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. from 2013 to 2014 and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Hain from 2001 to 2013.

Mr. Lamel is a certified public accountant and was an audit partner in the New York area practice of Ernst & Young LLP, from where he retired after a 29-year career. Mr. Lamel holds a B.S. in Accounting from Long Island University.

We believe Mr. Lamel’s qualifications to serve on our board of directors include his prior experience as a director of a special purpose acquisition company and subsequent post-business combination company, his prior directorships and executive officer roles and his extensive financial and accounting expertise.

George Roeth, Director

Mr. Roeth is a seasoned professional with over 30 years of experience in consumer packaged goods industry and has an expertise across several segments including household, cleaning & disinfecting products, pet & garden supplies, food, and personal care. Mr. Roeth served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ: CENT) from 2016 to 2019, a consumer packaged goods company that sells quality garden and pet products. Prior to that, Mr. Roeth spent nearly three decades at The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX), a consumer packaged goods company with business operations that included cleaning, household, food and personal care products, in multiple leadership positions including as an Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Mr. Roeth is currently Lead Director and Board Member of Oil-Dri Corporation of America since 2016 and an Executive Advisor at Gryphon Investors since 2020. Mr. Roeth has previously served as Chairman of the Board of the Clorox and Procter & Gamble Glad Products Joint Venture.

Mr. Roeth holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management of Northwestern University.

We believe Mr. Roeth’s qualifications to serve on our board of directors include his extensive business experience, numerous directorship roles and his financial expertise.

Mark Tarchetti, Director

Mr. Tarchetti is a Co-Founder of Alchemy-Rx, an agency focused on helping clients with significant growth ambitions, with a focus on consumer goods, private equity, and healthcare.

Mr. Tarchetti was previously the President of Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: NWL), a leading consumer goods company. He was also formerly the Head of Global Corporate Strategy for Unilever plc, where he spent 14 years in a variety of senior strategy, business and finance roles, and the Founder of the international consulting firm Tarchetti & Co. Ltd.

Mr. Tarchetti holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in joint honors, economics and politics from Durham University in the United Kingdom.

We believe Mr. Tarchetti’s qualifications to serve on our board of directors include his extensive business experience, significant expertise in strategy.

Bernardo Paiva, Senior Advisor

Mr. Paiva holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and an MBA LS in Marketing from PUC-Rio. Mr. Paiva is a class of 1991 graduate from Brahma’s (now AmBev) highly regarded management trainee program. During his early years with the company, he rose through the ranks as Sales Representative, Sales Supervisor and Sales Manager, always working at close proximity to the consumer. After his first international post in Argentina, where he was charged with building the Sales and Direct Distribution operation, Mr. Paiva returned to Brazil as AmBev’s Commercial Director for the Pernambuco region, followed by various positions within Sales. In 2004, Mr. Paiva was appointed AmBev´s Chief Procurement and Logistics Officer and subsequently became AmBev’s Chief Sales Officer.

In 2008, Mr. Paiva was appointed CEO for Labatt, a Canadian brewery acquired by InBev, being tasked with the challenge of increasing the brand’s domestic market share while delivering EBITDA goals. Having met those targets after a year, he was appointed CEO for Quilmes, the leading beer brand in Argentina with operations in Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Chile.

In 2012, Mr. Paiva was appointed Chief Sales Officer and a member of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Executive Board, the Senior Leadership Team. Based at the company’s headquarters in New York, Mr. Paiva led AB InBev’s global sales operation, present in over 150 countries.

Bernardo returned to Brazil in January 2015 as Chief Executive Officer for AmBev, one of the largest private enterprises in the country, a position he held until the end of 2019.