Posted by John J. Mahon and Eleazer Klein, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, on Sunday, November 29, 2020 Editor's Note: John J. Mahon and Eleazer Klein are partners at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP. This post is based on their SRZ memorandum.

Special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) grabbed the investment spotlight this year and remain among the most active investment classes in the market. While the SPAC model has evolved over the better part of the past two decades, SPACs have recently enjoyed an unprecedented surge in popularity as a result of a number of high-profile SPAC launches and subsequent business combinations. In this year alone, as of Oct. 9, 2020, there have been 138 SPAC initial public offerings (“IPOs”) yielding $53.6 billion in gross proceeds—a record haul for new SPAC launches. [1] To put these numbers in proper perspective, from 2004 to 2018, approximately $49.1 billion was raised across 332 SPAC IPOs in the United States. [2]

Overview

Both the aggregate IPO proceeds raised, as well as the average SPAC IPO size, have jumped considerably in 2020. Not surprisingly, that type of success breeds imitation, and interest in prospective new SPAC IPOs remains relatively high. However, based on feedback we have received, demand for new SPAC IPOs appears to have tightened in recent weeks, potentially as a result of the large amount of IPO proceeds already raised in 2020. Accordingly, prospective sponsors may face increasing pressure to differentiate their proposed SPACs from other recent or proposed offerings. In contrast, we expect that potential SPAC investors may see increasingly attractive investment opportunities as the SPAC IPO market further tightens and sponsors become more flexible on terms. To that end, we have already seen movement towards incentivizing larger IPO investors through various economic incentives, including through access to sponsor-level economics.

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