SPAC Squeeze Play for Cubbies?

2 more buyers court Cubs: Publicly traded firm, former bidder for Reds have team data

By Ameet Sachdev |Tribune reporter

10:07 PM CDT, June 20, 2008

Two more prospective buyers for the Chicago Cubs have emerged, both with baseball connections and the necessary deep pockets, the Chicago Tribune has learned.

A publicly traded company called Sports Properties Acquisition Corp. and a group that includes Broadway theater owner Rocco Landesman are reviewing the team's financial records provided by Cubs owner Tribune Co., sources said Friday.

They are among a handful of potential bidders that had to be preapproved by Major League Baseball before receiving the financial data. The others include a group led by John Canning, chairman of Chicago-based Madison Dearborn Partners LLC; Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban; the partnership of attorney Thomas Mandler and businessman Jim Anixter; and the Ricketts family of Omaha.

Sports Properties presents one of the more unusual ownership opportunities. It has no operations but is sitting on $216 million that it raised in January in an initial public offering. Its stock trades under the ticker symbol HMR.

Read more >>> view original article

View related >>> No Bonds for Hammerin' Hank

And in closely related, better two months late than never news

Have SPACs jumped the shark?

June 4, 2008 at 11:55 AM

At Dealflow Media's SPAC Conference 2008, Phil Goldstein, founder of hedge fund Bulldog Investors, sank his teeth into the question of whether "SPACs have jumped the shark." "It's difficult to tell if SPACs have jumped the shark," Goldstein said, "but the days of announcing the deal and the vote being a fait complete [sic] are over."

After reviewing the massive slowdown in SPAC IPOs activity this year, Goldstein traced many of the problems SPACs have faced in 2008 back to tight credit markets. "The one problem that's not been talked about, but that's vital to the health of this industry, is the credit problem," Goldstein commented. "It's very hard to get credit from prime brokers on what I consider the safest investment I've ever seen." "The ironic thing is that a lot of prime brokers will give you more credit on a deal that's done, where the stock could go down on company performance, than they will when you've got a lot of money just sitting in the bank," he continued.

Goldstein felt the problem to be severe enough that he implored the audience to lend a hand, saying, "I would urge anyone who has access to these people to do everything you can to loosen up these credit restraints." Still he was confident that SPACs would be around for the long term, although he thinks that major changes will come to the industry overall. "I don't see the demise of SPACs happening," Goldstein said.

"The one positive for this industry is that there are talented, creative minds within it. There are smart people out there; they will tinker with it; the structure may change, and I think that 10 years from now there will still be SPACs. It's been a lousy market in general, but if the credit loosens up, [SPACs] can come back." - George White

Original article

Goldman-SPACs a No-Go

UPDATE 1-Goldman pulls Liberty Lane IPO, deal a tough sell

Wed May 28, 2008 7:13pm EDT

By Joseph A. Giannone

NEW YORK, May 28 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs' (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) efforts to launch a new kind of "blank-check" company, Liberty Lane Acquisition Corp (LLACU.O: Quote, Profile, Research), got the cold shoulder both from hedge funds and the traditional stock buyers the bank hoped to win over, and the deal was pulled.

Liberty Lane, a special purpose acquisition company, was Goldman's first foray into setting up the companies known as SPACs, and it was designed to prevent hedge fund investors from messing with the structure.

But even with Goldman's endorsement, Liberty Lane's unique terms made it a tough sell -- especially in a SPAC market that has cooled in the past year.

Pricing for the planned $350 million deal was postponed twice, first last week and again on Tuesday, before the offering was shelved late on Wednesday.

Liberty Lane said in a statement "it has decided not to proceed with its proposed initial public offering at this time due to market conditions."

SPACs are companies that raise money and hunt for takeovers. They pay a rich dividend and have to liquidate after a specified period -- usually two years -- if they do not identify an acquisition that wins shareholder approval.

Last year, Wall Street managed offerings for 60 SPACs, raising more than $12 billion, representing a quarter of domestic IPO activity. But recently the market has cooled off.

No blank-check company with a market cap over $50 million has priced since late February, according to Renaissance Capital, a Greenwich, Connecticut, firm that tracks the IPO market. Meanwhile, many of the blank-check shares issued over the past year have traded down.

Liberty Lane was designed to appeal to traditional buy-and-hold stock investors. The problem with most SPACs, analysts said, is that hedge funds and other traders could buy the shares when they traded below net asset value and then reject every deal.

This strategy guaranteed a rate of return for short-term traders but worked against the original purpose of the blank check, which was to give investors a chance to profit from smart deals.

So Goldman changed the terms of Liberty Lane to fend off short-term investors -- management put up just 1 percent of capital and was to receive a smaller stake than normal. The new company had a smaller "trust pool," the escrow account that holds IPO proceeds until a deal is completed.

Each unit was to contain one share and half a warrant, rather than the usual one share and one warrant, reducing potential dilution to shareholders. Management was supposed to receive just 7.5 percent of the company, below the usual 20 percent.

By making shares that are less attractive to traditional SPAC buyers, Goldman gambled it could be first to sell a blank-check offering to an audience of long-term investors.

"Goldman Sachs reached out to fundamental investors to fill their book, and there wasn't enough interest at this moment in time," said Michael Tew, co-founder of SPAC Research Partners in Palo Alto, California. (Additional reporting by Dan Wilchins) (Editing by Gary Hill).

View original article

See also: IPO Spotlight: SPAC heyday slows down

PUNK'D SPAC Suffers From Kutch-lash?

William Morris Involved in $500M SPAC For M&A In Entertainment Sector; Ashton Kutcher On Board

Rafat Ali

Sunday, March 30, 2008; 5:06 AM

In the weirdly complex world of blank-check IPOs and SPAC s, this one is a bit of a puzzler: the talent agency William Morris (WMA), along with John Mass, EVP and head of corp dev and new ventures at the agency, and two other SPAC vets, have recently filed to raise about $500 million in financing on the American Stock Exchange, for acquisition in the entertainment, media and publishing space. The company hasn't yet identified any target.

Eric Watson, the SPAC's chairman of the board and treasurer, and Jonathan Ledecky, its president and secretary, have been involved with various other blank-check companies in the past. Other directors of the company included actor Ashton Kutcher, Jim Gray, the ESPN (NYSE: DIS) sportscaster and Ed Mathias, media and entertainment lead at Carlyle Group. Some of the directors of the company were recently part of another blank check company Endeavor Acquisition, which last year bought American Apparel.

As for how WMA will be involved with the company, this explains it well: "William Morris and Mr. Mass have entered into right of first review agreements with us, in which they have agreed to present to us for our consideration any suitable business opportunity to acquire a target business with a fair market value in excess of $375 million, prior to presentation to any other entity, provided such target business allows them to present their company to us. In any event, neither William Morris nor Mr. Mass will seek to acquire such target business or be a principal in such opportunity. In addition, if a client of William Morris has already identified a specific acquisition in which it seeks the assistance of William Morris, William Morris will not be obligated to present such opportunity to us."

Would be interesting to see what, if any, targets come up for the company within its 24 month deadline. WMA recently launched The Mailroom Fund, which is focused on venture capital investments in the digital media sector.

Original article

Related Info

Amelio's SPAC Upside the Head

SPAC that went splat

How ex-Apple CEO Gil Amelio raised $173 million - and lost almost all of it.

By Adam Lashinsky
senior writer

(Fortune Magazine) -- Normally investors make decisions based on close evaluation of the fundamentals underlying a company. In a SPAC, or special-purpose acquisition corporation, popular Wall Street vehicles whose organizers raise money to spend on yet-to-be-determined targets, investors buy solely into the pedigree of the founders.

Which is why they were so quick to pour $173 million into Acquicor, a SPAC formed in 2005 by a supergroup of Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) alumni - co-founder Steve Wozniak, former CEO Gil Amelio, and ex-senior executive Ellen Hancock. Instead, the trio turned that cash into a highly indebted company whose equity today is worth $15 million.

In early 2007, Acquicor bought a Southern California chip company called Jazz Semiconductor for $253 million (after returning $33 million to shareholders who wanted their money back instead). But the timing was terrible. Jazz sells to wireless companies like mobile-phone makers, who have been in a nasty downturn. Shares of Acquicor - renamed Jazz Technologies (JAZ) - have cratered from their IPO price of $6 to a recent 71 cents per share. On Feb. 13 the company retained UBS to explore "strategic alternatives."

Read more >>> CNN

Nasdaq-Amex SPAC-down!

Nasdaq wants piece of Amex's lucrative SPAC market

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

At this time last year, the Nasdaq was the happening place for a new company to come out. The exchange greeted 22 initial public offerings in January and February 2007, while the NYSE and Amex both saw new entrants in the single digits.

This year, the picture looks totally different. Only five IPOs have appeared on the Nasdaq, compared to four on the NYSE and 10 on Amex. The reason for the Amex's dominance is simple: special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs.

SPACs are shell companies that come public to raise money in order to buy another company. They started popping up on bulletin boards in 2003, and the Amex started taking them in 2005. Now, they've turned into big business. Last year, they consumed 25% of the IPO market, according to Renaissance Capital.

Read more >>> Tehran Times

See also >>> NYSE Amendment to Allow for SPAC IPOs (NYX, NDAQ)

Hedge Fund SPACmail?

IPO VIEW-For blank-check IPOs, popularity comes at a price
02.22.08, 8:06 PM ET By Jonathan Keehner

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blank-check companies have been some of the hottest initial public offerings in recent months, but hedge funds with an eye for profit may be short-circuiting them, a trend that could end up stunting the IPO market.

Blank-check companies, or special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), which use proceeds from share sales to fund future acquisitions, can work well. Retailer American Apparel Inc was acquired last year by one.

SPACs raised nearly four times more in 2007 than in the year before, bolstered by a credit crunch that sidelined competitors like private equity firms that rely on debt to make acquisitions.

But SPACs, which sold more than $12 billion of shares last year, have run afoul of investors like hedge funds -- who can demand that the companies return cash if they don't like a potential acquisition."

Some of the difficulty for SPACs in completing acquisitions is the entrance of what might be described as activist investors," said Brett Goetschius, publisher of DealFlow Media, which collects data and has a newsletter on SPACs. "Investors can essentially 'greenmail' the SPAC management to buy out their shares in order to get acquisition approval."

Read more >>> Reuters via Forbes

MAC SPAC's Vague PR

Huh?

NEW YORK, NY – February 20, 2008 – Marathon Acquisition Corp. (AMEX: MAQ.U) (the “Company”) announced today that it has met the condition under its Certificate of Incorporation that permits it until August 30, 2008 to complete an appropriate acquisition meeting the criteria set forth therein. The Company will make an additional announcement once it has entered into a definitive agreement to complete a business combination.

View PR at SEC.gov

Read More >>> NY Times DealBook and Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald

Nasdaq Floats SPAC Listing Plan

Nasdaq plans blank-check company listing standards

NEW YORK, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Nasdaq Stock Market Inc (NDAQ.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it will propose standards for listing "blank-check" companies, an increasingly popular type of entity formed solely to acquire other businesses.

Blank-check companies, also known as special-purpose acquisition vehicles, raised more than $12 billion last year in initial public offerings, more than four times the record $2.6 billion in 2006, according to research firm Dealogic.

Nasdaq said it plans to ask the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a rule change to allow it to list blank-check companies. It said it plans to require such companies to meet more stringent standards than typical companies before winning Nasdaq listings. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Phil Berlowitz).

Read more >>> WSJ and Forbes and BloggingStocks

Hedgie SPAC: From Shell to Big Board

A Public Hedge Fund With Good News to Report
February 6, 2008, 2:27 pm

So far, the public markets have been kind to GLG Partners, a British hedge fund.

GLG made its first-ever earnings announcement as a public company, reporting a profit, excluding compensation costs related to its public offering last year, of $127.1 million. That’s a 72.3 percent rise over the same period a year earlier. Including the costs, GLG lost $315 million for the three months ended Dec. 31.

The news drove GLG’s shares up more than 10 percent in trading Wednesday morning, though they have since drifted down to about $12.47, or a 2.5 percent gain over Tuesday’s closing price.

Read more >>> NYT DealBook

See related >>> SEC Admin. Proceedings: In the Matter of GLG PARTNERS, LP

Biggest Ever EuroSPAC is Next...

Financiers to list cash shell on Euronext

By Kate Burgess in London
January 31 2008 02:15

Shares in a new cash shell are to be listed on Euronext early next month with the aim of buying into a European company worth between €3bn ($4.45bn) and €5bn within two years.

Nicolas Berggruen and Martin Franklin, who completed the biggest takeover by a “blank cheque” acquisition company in the US last year, are seeking to raise €700m for a new European “blank cheque” company called Liberty International.

It will be the biggest “special purpose acquisition company”, or Spac, to be launched in Europe and marks a new phase in the spread of these publicly-listed shells which are designed to raise cash from investors and then identify a business to buy.

Read more >>> Financial Times article

Feb. 10, 2008 Update >>> Berggruen Holdings and Marlin Equities List €600 Million Liberty International on Euronext

Bulldog Bites Into Blank Checks

Goldstein Launching SPAC Fund
by Paula Schaap

Activist hedge fund firm Bulldog Investors is preparing a special purpose acquisitions companies (SPACs) fund in anticipation of strong returns for that sector.

Bulldog’s cofounder Phil Goldstein said that the firm had a lot of experience over the past two years in SPACs. Sometimes called “blank check” companies, these firms raise a pool of money to put into unspecified mergers.

Goldstein said he likes the SPAC model because most of the money is held in a trust.

“We see a lot of opportunities in SPACs to make money with pretty low risk,” Goldstein said.

Read more >>> HedgeFund.net article

Hollywood: Attack of the SPAC

By DADE HAYES

New investment scheme attracting big names

Hollywood has been hopping with hedge funds and pumped with private equity. Now, get ready for a SPAC attack.

The dissonant acronym -- which stands for Special Purpose Acquisition Company --represents a new investment scheme attracting big names and heralding a potential wave of media deals.

There are not apt to be deals in the $1 billion-plus price range. And many of the outfits tilt toward new media, videogames and telecom rather than TV and film production. But the list of those steering SPACs suggests that even modest-size deals could rearrange the media landscape in some intriguing ways.

The roster includes former high-ranking execs at Sony, AOL, DirecTV, ABC and Anchor Bay. Both R. Steven Hicks, the Austin, Texas-based radio mogul, and billionaire brother Tom Hicks jumped into the game last year, as did Ron Perelman. SPAC board members and advisors include the likes of one-time NBC exec Scott Sassa, Walden Media's Cary Granat and deep-pocketed AOL alum Ted Leonsis.

A more mellifluous shorthand for these firms -- "blank-check companies" -- helps explain their quirky mission and sudden popularity. And with everyone from Time Warner to Barry Diller rethinking the bigger-is-better mantra that helped create the media congloms, this could be prime time for those with blank checks to write.

There are now almost 100 such firms across all industries, at least eight of them targeting media and entertainment. The number of SPACs spiked 78% in 2007, according to industry tracker SPAC Analytics.

And Wall Street has taken notice.

Read more >>> Variety article
.

‘Blank Cheques’ Thrive in Volatile Market

SPACs are luring investors into fresh opportunities

Stephanie Baum in New York

30 Jan 2008

At least 75 hedge funds are trying to take advantage of corporate acquisition opportunities, left open by the evaporation of debt finance, by investing in special purpose acquisition companies – publicly-quoted “blank cheque” vehicles.

US hedge fund managers Fortress, Och-Ziff Capital, Ospraie Management, Pequot Capital, SAC Capital, Tudor Investment, Wellington and York Capital are among new investors in Spacs.

Spacs have cash with which to make acquisitions. Investors pay an average of $10 each for a combined share and a warrant, which allows buyers to acquire additional shares in return for more cash.

The companies and private equity firms that would normally compete with Spacs for acquisitions rely on loans to finance their purchases and have had to put their plans on hold because of the credit crunch. Meanwhile, market volatility has lowered the price of acquisition targets.

The chief executive of a large US fund manager said: “There are a lot of interesting acquisition opportunities around. Many companies are trading at low price/earnings ratios.”

Steven A. Cohen of SAC Capital

Although Spacs began in 1994 as small scale investment vehicles, the size and scope of deals brought to market has risen sharply in the past four years.

Endeavor Acquisition Corporation and Services Acquisition Corporation each raised about $100m for their 2005 purchases of clothing retailer American Apparel for $384m and smoothie business Jamba Juice for $265m.

Last year Tom Hicks, co-founder of buyout group Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst, launched a Spac that raised $522m while activist investor Nelson Peltz and billionaire investor Ronald Perelman

followed.

Freedom Acquisition Holdings, which had raised $500m, made a reverse acquisition of UK hedge fund manager GLG Partners, allowing the multi-strategy firm to obtain a listing on the New York Stock Exchange with a valuation of $3.4bn.

Spacs allow investors to vote against acquisitions if they do not like the target. Even if the majority of shareholders decide to pursue the deal, a shareholder at odds with the others may liquidate his or her investment. If the majority is against the acquisition, their investment is returned minus the underwriter’s fee.

These mechanisms mean the transactions take time. Spacs are usually set up to allow managers 24 months to acquire a target company. Even when a target is found, it takes about six months to complete a takeover because of US Securities and Exchange Commission requirements.

Read more >>> original article

Super Bowl SPACulation

Will Heinz Profit From Pats/G-Men Rematch?

Posted Jan 27th 2008 9:40AM by Aaron Katsman

HJ Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) should have really strong sales this week leading up to Sunday's Super Bowl. With more interest this year than in any Super Bowl in recent memory, with the two storylines of the Patriots trying to run the table, and a New York team in the big game, not only should TV ratings skyrocket, but I would expect the number of Super Bowl parties to be up as well. Clearly that will benefit the condiment maker.

Heinz is trading toward the bottom of its 52-week range and sports a yield of over 3%. What makes this even more interesting is that investing guru Nelson Peltz owns a share. About two months ago, Peltz filed a prospectus for the $750 million initial public offering of a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Due to the ways SPACs are set up, he will need to make some kind of acquisition, and that deal may just be Heinz.

View original article

Grab a SPAC and a Smile...

Psyop, the New York-based VFX and animation studio responsible for spots like Coca-Cola’s “Happiness Factory” has merged with an Israeli-based acquisitions company for $10 million in cash and $20 million in stock.

Based on the agreement, executive producer Justin Booth-Clibborn becomes CEO of the new venture, which could get an additional $14 million in cash and stock if performance goals are reached over the next three years. Representatives from Psyop declined to comment.

The deal is essentially a merger with a company that’s already public. Fortissimo is a Special Purpose Acquisition Corporation, or SPAC, a company set up so general shareholders can function like private equity firms and offer IPO-like deals to companies of their choosing.

Read more >>> Nmancer's Teklog

SPACs Pick up Slack in Shaky Credit Market

SPACs seen by some as less risky than blind pools

by Julia Neyman

Imagine the following investment scenario: You give a large sum of money to a seasoned principal, who uses it to take a promising company public. The principal, who has spent the last 30 years building his Rolodex on Wall Street, has two years to seal the deal.

If the deal happens, you could get a solid return when the company goes public. If two years pass and a deal hasn't materialized, you get your money back.

It's called a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), and finance insiders say it's as close to a win-win as they've seen in awhile. They explain a SPAC as a cousin of the traditional blind pool offering, but not as susceptible to fraud.

Investors are safer because 99 percent of their investment is held in a trust until the deal goes. Principals take on more risk, but if they have solid Wall Street contacts, making a SPAC work is just a matter of finding a promising private company and filing all the paperwork to take it public.

Read more >>> original article

Sporty SPAC Scores on IPO Completion

Sports Properties Acquisition Corp. Announces Completion of Its Initial Public Offering

Thursday, January 24, 2008; Posted: 12:36 PM

NEW YORK, Jan 24, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- HMR/U | news | PowerRating | PR Charts -- Sports Properties Acquisition Corp. (AMEX: HMR.U), announced today that it had completed its initial public offering. Sports Properties is a special purpose acquisition company, also known as a SPAC. The initial public offering of units was sold at an offering price of $10 per unit resulting in gross proceeds of $200,000,000. Each unit issued in the initial public offering consists of one share of Sports Properties's common stock, and one warrant to purchase one share of common stock, at an exercise price of $7 per share. Initially, the units will be the only security trading.

Andrew Murstein, Vice-Chairman of Sports Properties stated, "The entire team is very excited to start looking at investment opportunities. We believe there are many exciting opportunities for us to look at in the sports, leisure and entertainment industries, and we very much look forward to starting the process."

The President and CEO of Sports Properties is Tony Tavares. Mr. Tavares is the former CEO and President of SMG, a premier management company engaged in the private management of stadiums, arenas, theaters and convention facilities in the U.S., Europe and Pacific Rim. He has served as president of several Major League Baseball franchises, most recently the Montreal Expos and Washington Nationals.

Mr. Tavares previously served as the President and CEO of Disney Sports Enterprises, successfully launching and operating the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, an NHL expansion franchise, and leading negotiations for the acquisition of the California Angels.

The board of Sports Properties consists of:

Jack Kemp, Chairman, was the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate in 1996. He played 13 years as a quarterback in the American Football League and National Football League, followed by election to the United States House of Representatives for 18 years before serving as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") from 1989 to 1993. Mr. Kemp currently serves on the boards of several companies including Six Flags, Inc. and Oracle Corp.

Andrew Murstein, Vice Chairman, has served as the President and a director of Medallion Financial Corp., a publicly traded investment company, since its founding and IPO in 1996. He is also one of its largest stockholders. Under Mr. Murstein's guidance, Medallion has acquired several companies and invested over $3 billion in various companies and industries.

Henry Aaron, Director, has an unmatched reputation as one of the world's most respected sports ambassadors. A member of Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame, he held the title of Major League Baseball's all-time leader in home runs for 33 years and currently is the all-time leader in total bases and RBIs. He is currently an executive with the Atlanta Braves and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Honor, which was bestowed on him by President George W. Bush.

Mario Cuomo, Director, is a former three-term Governor of the State of New York. He has extensive relationships within and working knowledge of government and public / private partnerships, and as Governor oversaw annual state budgets in excess of $10 billion.

Read more >>> Press Release

Related >>> Grand Slam Acquisition

Related >>> No bonds for Hammerin' Hank

Blank Checks Cashing in During Decline

January 23rd, 2008 by Lilla Zuill

While traditional initial public offerings on U.S. stock exchanges have floundered, the once-obscure “blank check” arena has only gained traction so far this year, becoming a kind of safe playground for investors, and a retreat for some private equity players finding it tougher to raise debt now that credit terms have tightened.

Four weeks into 2008, 5 IPOs by so-called blank check companies– also called special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs – have tapped investors for about $4 billion. The latest, activist Nelson Peltz’s Trian Acquisition I Corp, was expected to raise $750 million on Wednesday.

In stark comparison, only one mainstream IPO has managed to stir up enough interest — Williams Pipeline Partners which raised $325 million last week – to actually make it to market, and has disappointed since its debut.

Blank check companies, which are formed to acquire other businesses and are little more than a shell until an acquisition is made, took off in 2007, accounting for roughly every fourth new U.S. listing, raising nearly $12 billion.

Read more >>> original article

'Blank Check' Companies Having Day In The Sun

The first five IPOs of 2008 have priced, and four of them have some curious things in common: no revenue, no history and no operations.

That's because they're special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs. Sometimes called "blank-check" companies, SPACs are corporate shells formed in order to make buyouts. Although they don't reveal their buyout targets at the time of the offering, they do have to put the candidates up for the approval of at least 70% of shareholders. If the buyout doesn't go through, shareholders get a refund.

This unique investment model has grown explosively in the past few years. According to Renaissance Capital, in 2003 just one SPAC came public. But last year 65 of them hit the boards, raising $11.7 billion. The 2008 pipeline already is looking to beat that.

One important SPAC player is Mark Klein, former chief of Ladenburg Thalmann LTS and current CEO of Alternative Asset Management Acquisition (AMEX:AMV) AMV, which came public on Aug. 1. In an interview with IBD, he explained the SPAC concept and why it has become so popular.

IBD: SPACs are often called "blank-check" companies, but apparently they're a little different from traditional blank-check companies. Can you explain that?

Klein: There's obviously been an evolution of the product.

Read more >>> original article.