The remarkable volatility of the equity markets during 2020, driven by uncertainty around the Coronavirus pandemic, seems to have also unleashed an equity product that had otherwise been very much in the background. Despite having been around for decades, with rising issuance over the last several years, SPACs have experienced a dramatic increase in activity this year. In this paper, the 17th in our ongoing series of Credit Suisse Corporate Insights, we explore the evolution of SPACs.
We delve into the key characteristics of SPACs in comparison to initial public offerings (IPOs) and to other, more traditional forms of raising equity capital, and we highlight lessons learned through some recent case studies.