Special Purpose Acquisition Company
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– Ajay Kumar KV, Manager & Himanshu Dubey, Executive
From a little-known word and a preserve of a select few finance professionals, the term Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) is today a buzzword. The regulators across the globe are taking necessary actions to enable SPACs to raise money from investors – jurisdictions like the US, UK and Malaysia lead from the front. Having a sound regulatory framework is important because if investors are keen towards SPACs, and the regulators do not enable it, it is quite likely that the country will not be a friendly destination for SPACs. Hence, India’s securities regulator SEBI has recently constituted an Expert Group for examining the feasibility of SPACs in India, and the International Financial Services Center Authority (IFSCA) has issued IFSCA (Issuance and Listing of Securities) Regulations, 2021[1] which provides a regulatory framework for listing of SPACs within its jurisdiction.
In this write up, the authors take a look at the global legislative measures, and also outline the various changes in the regulations that may be needed in India to enable to make India a SPAC-friendly jurisdiction.
Contents
Important regulatory concerns. 3
Regulatory framework in India. 6
Exploring some scenarios and the concomitant regulatory ramifications. 13
– Megha Mittal
The concept of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (‘SPACs’) has gained significant attention and importance in India in recent times – from a subject preserved to select classes, the surge in transactions over 2020, has made it pave its way to every investor’s dictionary. And with all the spotlight that SPACs have attracted, the numbers seem to only lend to the hype. To begin with, the global SPAC IPO proceeds in 2020 alone is estimated to be $83 billion USD[1] with a total of 251 listings. This figure is further projected to grow to a massive 711 listings in 2021 with an average IPO size of USD 294.5 Million as on 15th August, 2021[2].
Globally, SPACs have become the investment vehicle of choice, more-so by startups looking for funding; and the US has been the flag bearer of the SPAC industry, leading from the front. Following shortly behind are economies like UK, Malaysia and Canada; and while India is playing catch-up, it seems to be speeding up quick enough, at least on the regulatory front.
For the uninitiated, a SPAC, often referred to as a Blank-check Company or a Shell Company, is a non-operating company with the admitted intent (read: special purpose) of acquiring of a potential target within a stipulated timeline[3].
In this article, while dealing with the basic regulatory framework via-a-vis SPACs, the author seeks to analyse the motivation(s) behind such transactions from all perspectives – the acquirer’s, the acquiree’s and the investors’.
Aditi Jhunjhunwala | corplaw@vinodkothari.com
Neha Gupta | finserv@vinodkothari.com