US regulator looking into blank cheque IPO frenzy: sources

New York

THE US securities regulator has opened an inquiry into Wall Street's blank check acquisition frenzy and is seeking information on how underwriters are managing the risks involved, said four people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in recent days sent letters to Wall Street banks seeking information on their special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, dealings, the sources said.

SPACs are listed shell companies that raise funds to acquire a private company with the purpose of taking it public, allowing such targets to sidestep a traditional initial public offering.

The SEC letters asked the banks to provide the information voluntarily and, as such, did not rise to the level of a formal investigative demand, two of the sources said. The SEC wanted information on SPAC deal fees, volumes, and what controls banks have in place to police the deals internally. One source said the SEC asked questions relating to compliance, reporting and internal controls.

Representatives for the SEC did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside US business hours.

Wall Street's biggest gold rush of recent years, SPACs have surged globally to a record US$170 billion this year, outstripping last year's total of US$157 billion, Refinitiv data showed.

The boom has been fuelled in part by easy monetary conditions as central banks have pumped cash into pandemic-hit economies, while the SPAC structure provides startups with an easier path to go public with less regulatory scrutiny than the traditional IPO route. But the frenzy has started to meet with greater investor scepticism, and has also caught the eye of regulators.

This month, the SEC warned investors against buying into SPACs based on celebrity endorsements and said it was closely watching SPAC disclosures and other "structural" SPAC issues.

Investors have sued eight companies that combined with SPACs in the first quarter of 2021, according to data compiled by Stanford University. Some of the lawsuits allege the SPACs and their sponsors, who reap huge pay-days once a SPAC combines with its target, hid weaknesses ahead of the transactions.

The SEC may be worried about the depth of due diligence SPACs perform before acquiring assets, and whether huge payouts are fully disclosed to investors, said one source.

Another potential concern is the heightened risk of insider trading between when a SPAC goes public and when it announces its acquisition target, another source added. "Wall Street's biggest banks are being asked: what's going on?" the person said. REUTERS