A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is a blank-check company with no business operations, formed to raise capital through an initial public offering (IPO) for the purpose of effecting a merger or other forms of...more
January 14, 2026: Earth Savers, provider of lighting services for commercial, industrial, and health care facilities, was acquired by Energy Management Collaborative for an undisclosed amount. With this acquisition, Energy...more
On December 8, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) approved proposed rule changes submitted by The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) that exempt certain over-the-counter (“OTC”)-traded SPACs from the reverse...more
On 21 November 2025, the LSE published Feedback Statement: Shaping the Future of AIM, which summarises the feedback received on its April 2025 Discussion Paper proposing reforms to the AIM Rules....more
For executives and in-house counsel, capital‑markets access can determine whether strategic plans accelerate or stall. Reverse mergers remain a viable path to the public markets, but only for companies that understand how...more
Digital Asset Treasury Companies (“DATCOs”) are a new class of public companies whose treasuries hold significant amounts of digital assets on their balance sheets. As distinguished from a public company that uses digital...more
Amid the evolving Web3 and crypto ecosystem, a growing number of companies are navigating the path from decentralized startup to operating a digital asset treasury (DAT) model within a publicly traded company....more
A series of recent Nasdaq proposals make it more important than ever for smaller companies to closely monitor compliance. At the same time, they show that Nasdaq wants to send a market signal about the quality of its listed...more
Wilson Sonsini’s 2nd Annual Biotech Summit will address topics of critical importance to biotech and biopharmaceutical companies, including early and late-stage venture financing, partnering strategies, current and future AI...more
Cryptocurrency companies are facing opportunities in the US public markets like never before. In the midst of the current market demand, the president’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets has directed a multiagency...more
During Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins’ Senate confirmation hearing, a lawmaker asked him, “Would [you] investigate Chinese companies for … wanton and blatant violations of U.S. disclosure laws that...more
On June 17, the U.S. Senate voted to pass the GENIUS Act (Act), which, if passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, would establish federal guardrails and a regulatory framework for stablecoins. Specifically, the Act...more
The biotech mergers and acquisitions market faces significant headwinds in the first half of 2025. These challenges include frozen capital markets, regulatory uncertainty at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and...more
This year’s IPO Report offers a detailed review of the IPO market and outlook, including a breakdown of IPOs by industry and the number of IPOs from the leading states over the past five years. We also take a look at the IPO...more
In recent years, a variety of alternative paths to public ownership and trading liquidity have emerged. The reverse merger is among one of the oldest alternatives to a conventional IPO for a private company seeking to become...more
On January 24, 2024, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted final rules relating to special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and other shell companies. The new rules are effective on July 1, 2024....more
*This piece appears in PitchBook’s 2023 Annual US VC Valuations Report. We believe this is the wrong question—we view a reverse merger as "going public" during your cross-over round, rather than as an alternative to an IPO...more
In a subdued year for global M&A, deal-making in the life sciences industry came in waves, with a busy fourth quarter generating cautious optimism heading into 2024. While the year saw an overall decline in M&A activity (down...more
The Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently begun issuing comment letters in the life sciences reverse merger (RM) context that involve a broadened...more
Much has been written about when a business should go public and the considerations that inform that choice. Assuming the decision to go public has been made, second in importance to that determination is how a private...more
We have seen the IPO market stall, and the SPAC boom is now bust. So, what options are there for private companies looking to enter the public market in today’s economic climate? A transaction structured as a “reverse...more
US Market Review and Outlook - Stubbornly high inflation, rising interest rates and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with geopolitical tensions and concerns about the global economic outlook,...more
With the US initial public offering markets continuing to remain largely closed, and special purpose acquisition company combinations being costly and complex, there’s a new kid in town for foreign companies looking to go...more
The UK government has exercised its powers under the UK’s national security and investment regime to unwind Chinese-owned Nexperia’s acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab (“NWF”), a semiconductor wafer factory located in Newport,...more
As part of their growth strategy, private biotech and pharmaceutical companies often seek to raise capital through initial public offerings (IPOs). In addition to raising capital, an IPO can give a life sciences company a...more