Are SPACs Really Dead?
By David Feldman at 24 January, 2009, 1:10 pm
Well yes and no it appears. I hear from some that the SPACs that are public are suddenly finding deals and we should see some announcements soon. That is a good sign as there were concerns that virtually all the existing public SPACs might find themselves liquidating with no deal to show for their efforts at the end of their prescribed life cycle. But there are still some interesting developments, including the trading of SPAC stocks below their liquidation value, leading some to invest at, say, a 5-10% discount, then wait for a vote on a transaction, vote against it and happily pocket that 5-10% return in this crazy market environment.
More importantly, will new SPACs come public anytime soon? Probably not. If so, will they be in the same format? Probably not. So I prefer to declare the SPAC market as dormant rather than dead. Heck, the market “died” in the late 1990s, only to return a full 4-5 years later with a vengeance. Don’t count out those SPAC-meisters, they are super smart Wall Street veterans, and if and when the time is right, they will probably return.
Where can I find (or assemble) a list of SPACs that are public and are in search or deals – that is haven’t spent all their money?
Damon – if you subscribe to the SPAC Report at http://www.dealflowmedia.com, they have a full list of all the SPACs that they update regularly.
Oh and I just noticed a good list of existing SPACs at http://www.spacinfo.com.