The ABCs Of SPACs: Canadian Experience

While market uncertainty and volatility have affected other sectors of Canadian capital markets, the Canadian Special Purpose Acquisition Corporation (SPAC) market has continued to thrive in the second part of 2015. Since April 2015, when Dundee Acquisition Ltd., the first Canadian SPAC, raised C$112-million in its initial public offering (IPO), Canadian SPACs have raised in aggregate over C$1-billlion. The Dundee offering was quickly followed by IPOs of INFOR Acquisition Corp., Alignvest Acquisition Corporation, Acasta Enterprises Inc. and Gibraltar Growth Corporation. More recently, both Avingstone Acquisition Corporation and Kew Media Group Inc. have filed preliminary prospectuses.