by Fred Fuld III
If you haven’t heard the term, SPAC, as an investor, you should at least be aware of what it is. SPAC stands for Special-Purpose Acquisition Company, which is a company created specifically to pool funds in order to finance a merger or acquisition opportunity within a set timeframe, usually two years.
SPACs are sometimes referred to as corporate shells or blank-check companies. They have no operations but go public with the intention of merging with or acquiring a company with the proceeds that were raised from the SPAC’s initial public offering. The SPACs are currently sold in $10 units which includes of one share of common stock and one or more out of the money warrants or a fraction of a warrant. The units, stocks, and warrants usually start trading on either the NYSE or NASDAQ.
Probably the most famous SPAC (which no one remembers the original name of but most remember the new name after the merger) was Social Capital Hedosophia (former symbol: IPOA). This is the company that merged with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic (SPCE), the space travel company.
The most recent SPAC transaction hitting the news is the merger of the SPAC called Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp. (DEAC) with DraftKings (DKNG), one of the world’s largest daily fantasy sports contest and sports betting provider.
Here are a list of SPACs that have announced mergers:
| SPAC | Symbol | Buying | Business |
| 8i Enterprises Acquisition Corp. | JFK | Diginex | blockchain |
| Act II Global Acquisition Corp. | ACTT | Merisant | sugar substitute |
| Arya Science Acquisition Corp. | ARYA | Immatics | cancer immunotherapies |
| Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp. | DEAC | DraftKings | fantasy sports |
| Far Point Acquisition Corporation | FPAC | Global Blue | airport sales tax refund kiosks |
| Gordon Pointe Acquisition Corp. | GPAQ | HOF Village | Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| KBL Merger Co. IV | KBLM | CannBioRx Life Sciences | biotech |
| Legacy Acquisition Corp. | LGC | Blue Valor | digital marketing |
| Leisure Acquisition Corp. | LACQ | Gateway Casinos | gambling |
| Monocle Acquisition Corporation | MNCL | AerSale | Aviation Aftermarket |
| Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation | MUDS | Hycroft Mining | gold & silver |
| Nebula Acquisition Corp. | NEBU | Open Lending | automotive finance |
| Proficient Alpha Acquisition Corp. | PAAC | Lion Financial Group | financial services |
| Pure Acquisition Corp. | PACQ | HighPeak Energy | oil & gas |
| VectoIQ Acquisition Corp. | VTIQ | Nikola | zero emissions trucks |
| Wealthbridge Acquisition Limited | HHHH | Scienjoy | China streaming video |
Although the SPACs are a way of getting an early investment in currently private companies, they do carry risk.
Happy investing!
Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.