Playboy to return to US stock market after 9 years through SPAC deal

Playboy Enterprises Inc will return to the stock market through a merger with a blank check company in a deal that values it at $381 million, according to a statement on Thursday.

The merger with Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp comes nine years after Playboy went private in a $207 million deal led by its late founder Hugh Hefner and private equity firm Rizvi Traverse Management.

As part of the deal, Mountain Crest will sell $50 million of its common stock to institutional investors. Shares of Mountain Crest were up about 2% in morning trade.

Last month, Reuters reported Playboy's plans to go public.