SPACs

SPACs give Wall Street another slice of the pie

3 Nov 2020

Blank-check companies generate smaller fees than traditional public offerings. But they also bring less financial and reputational risk for banks who underwrite them. As SPACs go mainstream, they could give equity bankers a new raison d’etre.

Could Bill Ackman’s SPAC buy Bloomberg or Airbnb?

21 Oct 2020

The media firm and the home-sharing app have both been reported as possible targets for the activist hedge fund manager’s blank-check company. His $5 billion hook could land a big fish by taking a small stake. But large, well-known private firms don't need a SPAC to go public.

Moneyball SPAC could turn bats and balls into gold

13 Oct 2020

The Boston Red Sox and Liverpool FC owner may go public through a blank check company co-chaired by data-driven baseball executive Billy Beane. Based on UK valuations, the deal is on steroids. But Beane may have found public market arbitrage to help him roll up sports leagues.

Vision Fund SPAC is humbling downsize for SoftBank

13 Oct 2020

A planned blank-cheque vehicle seems a no-brainer given the rich rewards on offer. Yet investment boss Rajeev Misra probably wouldn’t be chasing public capital if he still had Gulf billions to play with. It’s actually a sign of SoftBank’s waning influence after flops like WeWork.

Telemedicine SPAC deal wraps promise up in hype

9 Oct 2020

An Oaktree-backed blank-check company is paying a relative bargain for fast-growing online drug seller Hims. But the target is expanding from easily sold drugs for hair loss and erectile dysfunction into harder categories such as diabetes. That’ll limit its efficacy.

SPACs are one good scrub away from respectability

5 Oct 2020

Blank check companies have many qualities of an investment mania. There’s even an ETF that lets everyday investors take a punt on these complex, insider-friendly acquisition vehicles. With a cleanup, though, they could shed their shady image. The IPO world could use disruption.

Richard Branson is late arrival at SPAC party

17 Sep 2020

The billionaire Brit is touting his Virgin brand to raise $400 mln via a blank-cheque company. Jumping on the well-trodden bandwagon is hardly disruptive. After recent setbacks, the 70-year-old may struggle to persuade potential investors and targets he has still got his mojo.

Corona Capital: Bumble IPO, SPACs

2 Sep 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The Blackstone-backed dating site may be eyeing an $8 bln valuation if it goes public next year, more than twice its pre-virus price tag. Ex-MGM exec Harry Sloan adds online gaming to his blank-check company empire.

Celebrity SPACs are buyout firms’ poor cousin

26 Aug 2020

Ex-Goldmanite and one-time Trump adviser Gary Cohn and former House Speaker Paul Ryan are joining the rush to issue blank-check companies. Once shady, SPACs are now the elite's get-rich vehicles of choice. It’s like a version of private equity minus the leverage and track record.

Dan Loeb deal reveals good and bad of SPACs

25 Aug 2020

Shareholders of the hedge fund manager’s blank-check company backed the $2.6 bln purchase of Global Blue. The payments business gets a listing and new investors despite a battering from Covid-19. But the SPAC structure and Loeb’s extra tweaks ended up looking ragged.

Breakingviews’ imaginary SPAC one-ups hedgie stars

20 Aug 2020

Blank-check firms launched by Bill Ackman, Dan Loeb and others create stiff competition for Breakingviews’ $500 mln offering. But previous successes don’t always translate. Our track record is strong, we have no conflicts, our fees are lower. Herewith, the (theoretical) pitch.

Bill Ackman’s $5 bln SPAC debut is market moment

22 Jul 2020

The biggest-ever listed vehicle designed solely to buy another company starts trading on Wednesday. In 2020, SPAC IPOs and their acquisitions have already both outpaced previous full years. The structures have improved, too. Ackman’s hope is to turn them from fad to fixture.

Dan Loeb may have to eat his SPAC cooking

16 Jul 2020

His Third Point hedge fund is behind a listed vehicle that offered $1.9 bln in January for Global Blue, a tax-free-shopping payments firm. Then travel all but stopped. The buyer now says shareholders should reject the deal. But the SPAC’s features complicate what happens next.

Bill Ackman bests Goldman Sachs in SPAC race

23 Jun 2020

Both are launching blank-check companies designed to buy private firms. Goldman’s is smaller, and rides on its contacts and cachet. Ackman’s could reach $6 bln, and adds some governance-friendly tweaks. Short-term investors will probably prefer Goldman’s; Ackman may hope they do.

Ackman can help SPACs, but can SPACs help Ackman?

11 Jun 2020

Hedge fund maestro Bill Ackman is raising more than $1 bln for a blank-check company. These acquisition vehicles are having a good year, and so is Ackman. There’s room to make so-called SPACs work better – but they can also come with wrinkles. Ask rival investor Dan Loeb.

Corona Capital: SPAC reversal, Italy, Toilet paper

8 May 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Dan Loeb’s blank-check company tries to nix a deal; Italians warily get back to work; Australian TP panic subsides.

SPACs need a governance overhaul

6 May 2020

With IPOs struggling and mergers effectively halted, pools of cash sitting in listed acquisition vehicles are a chance for dealmaking. But the fees and valuation methodology of these so-called SPACs favor their managers. They will be unloved in the deal world until that changes.

Beware the rough end of the SPAC

13 Jun 2018

Blank-check companies are back in fashion, helped by a $550 million vehicle backed by Dan Loeb. These listings have changed since they first became popular a decade ago. Though the structures sound better, bad incentives can still leave long-term investors exposed.

SPAC solves none of tech world’s hardest problems

24 Aug 2017

A new venture says its $500 mln blank-check IPO can help end the dearth of public offerings from tech startups. Yet capital is plentiful, an opaque acquisition won’t improve valuation, and the target would still be stuck with public disclosure. This solution has no real value.

Buyout barons like the sound of a blank check

2 Sep 2015

David Bonderman’s TPG and Alec Gores’ eponymous firm are the latest to jump on the shell-company bandwagon. A cutthroat M&A scene and the success enjoyed by the likes of Martin Franklin have amplified the siren call. Not all acquisition nous is necessarily the same, however.