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(Reuters) - Blank-check firms - popularly known as SPACs - emerged as the most popular investment vehicles and the primary driving force behind a record year for initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2020, even as overall dealmaking activity tumbled to a three-year low.
SPACs are shell companies that raise funds in an IPO with the aim of buying a private company, with the acquired company becoming public after the merger.
Once confined to the backwaters of Wall Street dealmaking, a SPAC, or a special purpose acquisition company, accounted for nearly half of the overall amount raised through new listings as investors mostly bet on new tech stocks after the Federal Reserve shored up the economy with a stimulus package in May.