Back in early 2021, the SPAC frenzy was at its nose-bleed height, Fortune reports.
During the first quarter of this year, SPACs made up 68.5% of all IPOs, per FactSet data. Meanwhile, SPAC issuance topped its record 2020 total in the first three months of 2021.
Amid the glut of SPACs in the market, regulators have grown more wary, and the SEC’s new guidelines around accounting practices sent SPAC issuance into a nosedive. Still, although the SPAC surge has markedly cooled, “SPAC issuance has accelerated recently despite continued regulatory uncertainty,” strategists at Goldman Sachs led by David Kostin wrote in a new report.
But underneath that activity lies a more somber message: The products of the SPAC boom largely haven’t yielded great returns for investors. Read more.
