BT WEEKEND

SPACs: When retail investors ride with private equity

Published Fri, Apr 30, 2021 · 05:50 AM

WITH a SPAC, the retail investor now has the opportunity to tap into a universe previously inhabited only by private equity. So naturally, the investing public is excited and wants in on what they see is a hot ticket to outsized returns. And why shouldn't the average investor have access to opportunities that have vastly benefited a privileged few? But as the window opens, so too the risks get much larger.

As the lines between private and public markets blur, we look at the rise of Special Purpose Acquisition Vehicles and other sophisticated new instruments and spell out the risks, in Brunch this Saturday in The Business Times Weekend.

Over the past eight years with executive chairman Yeoh Oon Jin at the helm, PwC Singapore has become "quite a different firm". He tells us the main challenges the company - and the business - have faced, and what lies ahead, in The Raffles Conversation.

Much has been made of the energy transition, as corporates and countries approach decarbonisation. Our Investing With Impact column identifies the top four sector opportunities for investors, as the world moves towards net zero.

Also in the Wealth section, a private equity adviser explains why, contrary to popular belief, PE returns are highly correlated to public markets and PE firms do go out of business.

The Audi RSQ8 is a German cousin to the Lamborghini Urus, only it's five seconds faster around the fearsome Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit. This super sport utility vehicle is unnecessarily fast, but that lies at the heart of its appeal, says The Steering Column.