The recent announcement of Hambro Perks Acquisition Company Limited’s IPO on the London Stock Exchange signifies the first SPAC to list on the LSE since the changes to the listing rules, designed to make the LSE more attractive to SPACs, came into effect, Walkers notes in a new white paper.
The Hambro Perks SPAC is a Guernsey company. Companies formed in Guernsey, Jersey, the Cayman Islands, the BVI and Bermuda (Offshore SPACs) all have similar benefits making them attractive as SPACs for listing on the LSE.
The changes came into effect in August and bring the listing rules into line with the popular SPAC rules for the US markets, which have seen an unprecedented number of SPACs listed since the start of 2020. The updated listing rules are designed to encourage SPACs by allowing the trading of a SPAC’s shares to continue once it had announced an intended acquisition, provided that certain investor protections are embedded in the SPAC.
Offshore companies are governed by very flexible corporate laws and are tax neutral. Offshore companies are therefore ideal as SPACs, both in relation to the IPO and as the company that is traded on the LSE, and then in relation to the “de-SPAC” transaction that occurs as part of the acquisition. Read more.
