February 13, 2023
SPACs: Closing the Book on a Terrible Year
White & Case recently published its 2022 US de-SPAC & SPAC Data & Statistics Roundup, and the numbers are every bit as ugly as you think they are. Here are some highlights:
– The total value of de-SPAC transactions completed last year was $59.9 billion. That’s a decrease of 84% versus the $368 billion of de-SPACs completed in 2021.
– De-SPAC deal count proved more resilient but also declined from 2021 levels, sliding 40% year-on-year. There were 119 de-SPAC M&A transactions in 2022, compared to 197 deals the previous year.
– The number of SPAC IPOs slid from 612 to just 83, and SPAC IPO proceeds fell 92 percent from $157 billion in 2021 to $13 billion in 2022.
– SPAC IPO activity has regressed throughout the year, with only seven listings securing proceeds of $540 million in Q4 2022. Q4 was the weakest quarter in 2022 and marked the third successive quarter where SPAC IPO deal count and IPO proceeds have fallen.
About the only good news for the SPAC biz is that de-SPAC M&A actually improved through the course of the year. Only 15 de-SPAC deals worth $8 billion were completed in the first quarter of 2021. In the fourth quarter, however, the deal count stood at 46, with deal value recovering to $22 billion.
– John Jenkins