Everest Consolidator Acquisition Corp. (MNTN) Announces Tweaks to Unifund Deal

Everest Consolidator (NYSE:MNTN) provided an update this morning to its combination with debt collector Unifund, which it initially announced in May.

In a press release, the SPAC noted that it expects to contribute 1,500,000 promote shares to a bonus pool that will be distributed pro rata to non-redeeming shareholders in an effort to retain at least $60 million in its $185 million trust through to close.

Everest also announced that Unifund expects $58.5 million in revenue with $19.4 million in operating income in its 2023 fiscal year. This is an uptick from its earlier announced performance after a slight year-on-year decline to $52.2 million in revenue in 2022 from $52.8 million in 2021.

Unifund’s pro forma enterprise value has also now tipped down -2.5% to $232 million as of press release, having been $238 million at announcement.

And, while Unifund has not announced any major news since the pair went public with their deal, there has been news in public debt in general. Unifund’s business of collecting on consumer debts from major lenders will likely be affected by the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Biden administration’s student debt forgiveness plan in June.

This rejection and the administration’s subsequent smaller debt relief reforms could push both ways for Unifund. On one hand, broader debt relief may have made it easier for many consumers to pay off the sorts of debts that Unifund was seeking payments on. On the other hand, not getting this relief may make it more likely that these consumers see other debts fall into collections.

At any rate, the decisions provided some clarity to where things will stand with those sorts of debt for the time being, which may have also served as a good moment for Everest to re-introduce this combination to investors. It plans to post a new investor call and presentation on the deal on its website and filed with the SEC soon.