SPAC listings cooling off

Initial public offerings for special purpose acquisition companies in the U.S. have exploded over the last couple of years. Year-to-date, over 300 blank-check companies have gone public, raising nearly $100 billion of proceeds — more than the 227 issues and over $75 billion of proceeds for all of last year. In 2021, there have been seven deals of at least $1 billion, including Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp., Churchill Capital Corp. VII, Ares Acquisition Corp. and Thoma Bravo Advantage.

However, the U.S. SPAC IPO market slowed recently due to a host of factors, including increased regulatory scrutiny. The slowdown may have a ripple effect on issuance since SPACs have become an increasingly important part of the U.S. IPO market, representing more than half of all proceeds raised in 2020 and greater than two-thirds of this year's total. Excluding SPAC IPOs, there were $68.7 billion and $45.2 billion of issuance in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The IPOX SPAC index has lost nearly 10% since mid-February, although it is still up 4.4% for the year.