The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu The leading online blog in the fields of corporate governance and financial regulation. Fri, 22 May 2026 11:32:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cropped-photography-4-e1706898544564-1-32x32.png Investing in a SPAC – The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu 32 32 Investing in a SPAC https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2020/11/21/investing-in-a-spac/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=investing-in-a-spac https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2020/11/21/investing-in-a-spac/#comments Sat, 21 Nov 2020 15:25:39 +0000 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/?p=134497?d=20201121102539EST Posted by Eleazer Klein and Adriana Schwartz, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, on Saturday, November 21, 2020
Editor's Note:

Eleazer Klein is a partner and Adriana Schwartz is special counsel at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP. This post is based on their SRZ memorandum.

Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have seen a surge in 2020. There have been several high-profile private companies, such as DraftKings and Nikola, going public by completing business combinations with SPACs and high-profile investment firms, such as Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square (for the second time) and Jeff Smith’s Starboard Value, sponsoring SPACs of their own.

A SPAC is a public shell company formed for the purpose of completing a business combination within a specified period of time with a private operating company. Combining with an already public shell allows the private company to essentially complete an IPO with an intact public shareholder base at a lower cost than a traditional IPO. It can also provide greater deal certainty in uncertain times.

(more…)

]]> https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2020/11/21/investing-in-a-spac/feed/ 2