We study characteristics of Specified Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) and examine the performance of their securities over time. We find that SPACs represent a fairly unique way to raise capital. The incentives of their founders, underwriters, and investors are interdependent and...

We document the changes of corporate design of modern Specified Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) from 2003 to 2012. We assign the impact on changes of SPACs to each of the three groups of stakeholders: founders, investors and underwriters and test whether institutional characteristics of...

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...

This study documents the changes in the corporate design of modern Specified Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) for the years 2003–2012. Do institutional characteristics of SPACs determine the success of their merger outcomes? The paper finds that SPACs significantly redesigned their...

Unit initial offerings are innovative way to finance corporate activities in capital markets and are usually conducted by companies that carry a high level of asymmetry information. The degree of information asymmetry insignificantly impacts the pricing at the IPO day in our sample. In addition...

Warrant is an important form of financial asset that enables entrance to primary capital markets to companies that otherwise would have difficulty to access it. We explain the nature of warrants and examine the reaction of warrants' value during two major events in the life of SPACs, namely the...

We document the changes of corporate design of modern Specified Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) from 2003 to 2012. We assign the impact on changes of SPACs to each of the three groups of stakeholders: founders, investors and underwriters and test whether institutional characteristics of...

We study characteristics of Specified Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) and examine the performance of their securities over time. We find that SPACs represent a fairly unique way to raise capital. The incentives of their founders, underwriters, and investors are interdependent and...

The COVID19 (coronavirus) pandemic and associated containment measures are expected to cause far-reaching damage to economies around the world. Firms are suffering from reduced demand due to movement restrictions, from reduced labor supply and from constraints to sourcing material inputs. The...