- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Maria L. Murphy2022-12-08T16:05:00
Special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) transactions have unique risks and require awareness of what it takes to operate as a public business. When a SPAC closes acquisition of an existing private operating company, the operating company becomes a public company and must meet relevant reporting obligations on an accelerated timeline for the first time.
Although the total number of domestic public companies declined significantly since its peak in 1996, a significant number of SPAC mergers closed in the last two years, according to a Deloitte report. SPACs continue to make up a significant number of new public companies.
“Last year had the most completed deals, including 199 SPAC mergers, up from 64 in 2020, and 350 traditional IPOs (initial public offerings), up from an average of 170 for the last decade,” said Will Braeutigam, partner, U.S. capital markets transactions leader at Deloitte. “This year will be the second highest year on record for completed SPAC mergers, with 93 mergers completed to date.”
THIS IS MEMBERS-ONLY CONTENT. To continue reading, choose one of the options below.
News and analysis for the well-informed compliance or audit exec.
Annual Membership best value
Subscribe now for $365
Our lowest price ($1 per day) for one year.
Digital World Acquisition Corp. faces a penalty of $18 million as part of a settlement reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding fraud allegations related to its dealings with Trump Media & Technology Group.
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s latest batch of 2021 audit inspection reports included a setback in results for Marcum largely related to the firm’s work dealing with special purpose acquisition companies.
Perceptive Advisors agreed to pay $1.5 million for allegedly steering clients toward special purpose acquisition companies its investment advisers had financial interests in and failing to disclose those conflicts in a timely fashion.
Erica Williams was reappointed to a second term as chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board after an ambitious first three years in the role that have seen the agency work to update many of its standards deemed outdated.
Software company Autodesk said it won’t restate several years of financial statements following an audit committee investigation into potential accounting misconduct.
Los Angeles-based bank holding company Broadway Financial Corp. disclosed in a public filing weaknesses discovered in its internal control over financial reporting because of training shortfalls.
