The recent rise to prominence of SPACs provides private equity portfolio companies an alternative method for stock exchange listing and access to the capital markets.

By Neil Campbell, Tom Evans, Paul Kukish, Ryan Maierson, David Walker, Suneel Basson-Bhatoa, and Catherine Campbell

Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have emerged, somewhat unexpectedly, as the hottest market trend in the US this year, allowing SPAC sponsors to launch shell companies with the goal of taking private companies public via merger. SPACs are rare in Europe due to regulatory constraints — a SPAC acquisition is a deemed reverse takeover, likely to result in the SPAC’s shares being suspended and/or cancelled, with the enlarged group only readmitted following publication of a prospectus.