On Mergers, Acquisitions and Liquidation Using Specified Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)

A Specified Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) is formed to purchase operating businesses within a priori determined time period. SPACs existed in U.S capital markets since the 1920s. Their corporate structure has recently become debated in the legal and financial literatures, especially their structural response to regulations by the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the late 1990s. SPACs were traded on American Stock Exchange and Overt the Counter Bulletin Board. Since 2008, SPACs are listed on New York Stock Exchange and National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations. This paper examines the determinants of the execution of mergers by SPACs.

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Paper Number
13-013
Year
2013