We’ve been waiting nearly two years for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to finalize the rules for special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). On January 24, it happened at last. To help us make sense of the...more
On January 24, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted final rules that impose significant additional procedural and disclosure requirements on initial public offerings (IPOs) by special purpose acquisition...more
On January 24, 2024, the SEC adopted new rules that apply to SPAC transactions and the adopted rules largely track the agency’s proposals with some notable exceptions. The new rules will become effective 125 days after...more
Directors and officers (D&O) liability insurance is designed to protect management from personal liability for a claim resulting from an alleged breach of fiduciary duty while managing the operations of a company. The...more
Key Points - The first half of 2022 experienced a slowdown in SPAC activity when compared to recent years. Only 77 de-SPAC M&A deals were announced in the first half of 2022, compared to 167 de-SPAC transactions in the same...more
Forward-looking statements—statements that evidence management’s beliefs about what the future holds—can be valuable to analysts and investors. They are also very interesting to plaintiffs’ attorneys, especially if those...more
On April 28, 2022, the California Court of Appeals became the first appellate court outside of Delaware to uphold a federal forum provision (“FFP”) in governing corporate documents. The appellate decision was issued in the...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new rules and amendments (the Proposed Rules) to enhance disclosure and expand liability in initial public offerings by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs)...more
Takeaways - While the SPAC IPO and PIPE markets were challenging in 2021, the enormous amounts of capital already raised should drive merger activity in 2022. As more shareholders choose to redeem shares and potential...more
On December 14, 2021, Judge Beth Labson Freeman of the Northern District of California granted a motion to dismiss claims brought under Sections 11 and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933 (“the Securities Act”) against a...more
Last year saw a boom in the market for SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies. Almost 250 SPACs raised more than $80 billion in initial public offerings (IPOs) during 2020. This trend did not let up as the calendar...more
The use of SPACs has reached unprecedented levels, but recent pronouncements from the SEC may signal heightened enforcement and litigation risk for SPACs, as well as their sponsors, officers and directors, and auditors. The...more
A Supreme Court decision could resolve significant inconsistency among trial courts as to the applicability of the PSLRA discovery stay. Key Points: ..While federal district courts have consistently applied the...more
In the last year, there has been an unprecedented surge of special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) formations. This has attracted a lot of attention to the SPAC space, from the sponsor side (traditional private equity...more
Transactions that involve special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have risen at a meteoric rate in recent months, from $3 billion in 2020 to $166 billion in the first three months of 2021 alone.[1] With sponsors ranging...more
What happened - In a recent client alert, we discussed the dramatic rise in offerings of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and some of the attendant litigation and enforcement risks. A raft of recent public...more
SPACs seem to be having their moment in the financial world, especially in 2021. In less than three months, U.S.-based SPACs have raised more money – almost $88 billion – than all SPACs combined in 2020 (which held the...more
Acting Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance, John Coates, provided additional comments on SPACs on April 8, 2021. Acting Director Coates noted the “unprecedented surge” in SPAC...more
John Coates, Acting Director, Division of Corporation Finance, issued a statement questioning the application of the safe harbor for forward looking information in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) to a...more
In a remarkable year for the equity markets in 2020, the increased use of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”) to take companies public stands out as a defining trend. In 2020, well-known private businesses – like...more
Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) are increasingly being used as an alternate vehicle to traditional initial public offerings. Companies that go public through a traditional IPO process are often subject to...more
In Heinze v. Tesco Corp., No. 19-20298, 2020 WL 4814094 (5th Cir. Aug. 19, 2020), the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a putative class action suit under Section 14(a) of the...more
Companies across industries—from retail to high tech to financial services—are touting their sustainability initiatives to attract and retain customers and employees. But investors are similarly clamoring for regular...more
In its June 10, 2020, opinion in Nguyen v. Endologix, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit applied the plausibility standard to a plaintiff’s securities fraud claims and affirmed the district court’s dismissal,...more
On June 10, 2020, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a putative securities fraud class action against Endologix, Inc., a medical device company, on the grounds that the shareholder’s core...more