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January 3, 2022
Welcome to the SPAC Research weekly newsletter.
2021 League Tables
2021 was a record-breaking year as over $162bn flooded into SPAC trust accounts -- more than all previous years combined.
Below, find some visualizations of the banner year for SPAC advisors.

2021 Underwriter League
Citi took the top spot among bankers in 2021, running 108 SPAC IPOs and earning $22bn in league table credit. The bank more than doubled its activity from 2020, and led numerous IPOs for big-name serial sponsors like Michael Klein, Khosla Ventures, Softbank, Dragoneer, and CC Neuberger.

Goldman Sachs took second place with 66 IPOs and more than $15bn in league table credit. Goldman jumped from third place in 2020 to second place this year and led IPOs for franchises like the dMY group, Arya Sciences, and the Eagle team.

Cantor Fitzgerald edged out Credit Suisse for third place with 60 deals and more than $13bn in league table credit. Cantor's SPAC franchise remains impressive as the firm consistently manages to out-hit numerous bulge bracket banks in the SPAC league tables.

Click here to view the full 2021 Underwriting League Tables.
League Table Credit is based on the total amount of the offering sold, including over-allotment. Full credit is awarded to the sole book-runner or split equally among joint book-runners.
2021 Legal League
Ellenoff Grossman & Schole led all firms in SPAC IPO engagements, working on almost 150 deals that raised over $33bn. EGS has led all firms in engagements for five consecutive years, and this year worked on IPOs that collectively raised over $34bn.

Kirkland & Ellis held the No. 2 spot with over 100 deals. K&E's IPOs collectively raised over $33bn, and the firm served as issuer counsel on 77 deals, more than any other law firm.

Skadden rounded out the top three, with 89 deals that raised almost $29bn.

Click here to view the full 2021 Legal League Tables.
2021 SPAC M&A League
Almost 200 deSPACs listed on US exchanges in 2021, with a total enterprise value at listing of more than $450bn. Below we look at M&A advisors on the deSPAC side.

Goldman Sachs worked on 52 deSPACs that closed last year worth $174bn in total enterprise value. Goldman led in total deal volume for the second straight year. The bank worked on a number of the year's largest deals, including Aurora (acquired by Reinvent Technology Partners Y), Ginkgo Bioworks (acquired by Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp.), Blue Owl (acquired by Altimar Acquisition Corp) and ironSource (acquired by Thoma Bravo Advantage).

JP Morgan vaulted to second in total deal volume at $168bn, after touching just $15bn worth of deal closings in 2020. The bank advised on 49 deal closings last year, including the largest SPAC deal ever, Altimeter Growth Corp.'s acquisition of Grab.

Morgan Stanley pulled ahead of Citi for third place, with 37 engagements worth approximately $160bn in enterprise value. But Citi is in pole position for 2022, with $82bn worth of live deals at the moment.

Click here to view the full 2021 M&A League Tables.
2021 M&A Legal League
Latham & Watkins led all law firms by working on 44 deSPACs in 2021 that were collectively worth $117bn. Despite not being as active in the IPO market, Latham achieved the No. 1 spot with a huge number of sell-side engagements including ironSource and Ginkgo Bioworks.

Skadden took second place with 21 deals worth over $110bn. And Kirkland & Ellis relinquished the top spot from 2020 but rounded out the top three with 40 deals of their own worth $108bn. Kirkland and Weil, Gotshal & Manges are battling for 2022's top spot on the live deals leaderboard.
We'll be back next week with a more comprehensive year-in-review post.


News From the Past Week

Deal News

  • TPG Pace Beneficial Finance Corp. (TPGY) and EVBox Group agreed to mutually terminate their business combination agreement, with TPGY receiving a €15mm termination fee. TPGY will continue to pursue a business combination with an appropriate target.

  • Altimar Acquisition Corp. II (formerly ATMR) closed its acquisition of Fathom on Thursday 12/23/2021. Redemption statistics were not provided. Ordinary shares and warrants are now trading on the NYSE as “FATH” and “FATH/W.”

  • FS Development Corp. II (formerly FSII) closed its acquisition of Pardes Biosciences on Thursday 12/23/2021 with 98.8% of public shares remaining. Ordinary shares are now trading on the NASDAQ as “PRDS.”

  • Roman DBDR Tech Acquisition Corp. (formerly DBDR) closed its acquisition of CompoSecure on Monday 12/27/2021 with 20% of public shares remaining. Ordinary shares and warrants are now trading on the NASDAQ as “CMPO” and “CMPOW.”

  • NextGen Acquisition Corp. II (formerly NGCA) closed its acquisition of Virgin Orbit on Wednesday 12/29/2021 with 17.7% of public shares remaining. Ordinary shares and warrants are now trading on the NASDAQ as “VORB” and “VORBW.”

  • Athena Technology Acquisition Corp. (formerly ATHN) closed its acquisition of Heliogen on Thursday 12/30/2021 with 9.1% of public shares remaining. Ordinary shares and warrants are now trading on the NYSE as “HLGN” and “HLGN/W.”

New S-1's
Name Ticker Size ($mm) Underwriter Trust Funding Coverage
Grandview Capital GDVW 300 Cantor 100.5% 1/2
PowerUp Acquisition PWUP 225 Citi 101.5% 1/2
Aries II Acquisition RAMX 130 Opco 101% 1/2
LIV Capital Acquisition LIVB 100 EBC 101% 3/4

IPOs
Name Ticker Raised ($mm) Sector Cash in Trust Coverage
Aetherium Acquisition GMFI 100 Consumer 101.5% W
Arogo Capital Acquisition AOGO 90 Automotive 101.5% W
Welsbach Technology Metals WTMA 75 Materials 100% R

Charter Extensions

  • THCA extended its charter through 3/31/2021 with no sponsor contribution to trust.
  • ACKIT extended its charter through 3/23/2022 with a single $0.10 contribution to trust.


Upcoming Meetings and Deadlines

  • 1/4/2022 VPCC Dave approval meeting
  • 1/5/2022 BENE Charter extension meeting (liquidation date 1/7/2022)
  • 1/6/2022 PAIC Revelation Biosciences approval meeting (liquidation date 1/13/2022)
  • 1/11/2021 CPSR Gelesis approval meeting
  • 1/11/2022 VCKA Liquidation deadline (outside liquidation date 7/11/2022)
  • 1/12/2021 DCRN Tritium approval meeting (outside date 1/14/2022)
  • 1/14/2021 MCMJ Leafly approval meeting
  • 1/14/2021 GMII Sonder approval meeting
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