SPACs became a major force in the U.S. during 2020, but there
have been relatively few in the U.K.—or indeed across
Europe—in recent years.
Given the relatively straightforward route to the public equity
markets that a SPAC offers and the sheer volume of capital raised
by U.S. SPACs, interest is growing rapidly both in the U.K. and
Europe.
In the U.S., there were 242 SPAC initial public offerings
raising in excess of $83 billion in 2020. And the first two months
of 2021 have shown no signs of investor appetite ending, with
record amounts of capital being raised in the U.S. through
SPACs.
This volume of capital is spurring investor appetite in the U.K.
In addition, interest in the U.K. has also heightened following the
recently published review of the U.K. Listing Regime by Lord Hill
which, amongst other things, recommended a change to the U.K.'s
reverse takeover rules as they relate to SPACs—a move that
would ease a major regulatory hurdle. So far this year we
