SPACs in 2020 have raised over $79 billion and made up most of the growth in the U.S. IPO market
A major trend in the transactional world over the past year has been the SPAC IPO, which served as a popular alternative for the traditional IPO. The role of a special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”) is solely to raise capital through an IPO for the purpose of acquiring an existing company or merging with one. SPACs in 2020 have raised over $79 billion and made up most of the growth in the U.S. IPO market compared with 2019.
Israeli companies took note of this trend and took part in SPAC transactions of their own. The most noteworthy SPAC transaction of the year involving an Israeli company was the $1.4 billion merger between ARKO Holding Ltd. (“ARKO Holdings”) and Haymaker Acquisition Corp. II, a publicly traded SPAC. ARKO is the controlling owner of GPM, the seventh-largest convenience store chain in the U.S. with nearly 1,400 stores across the country.
Greenberg Traurig represented ARKO in the transaction, which closed several weeks ago. The merger gave birth to a new public company, ARKO Corp. (“ARKO”). Shares of ARKO common stock and ARKO warrants are expected to trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbols “ARKO” and “ARKOW”.
Led by Israel Practice member Alan Annex, Greenberg Traurig put together a multidisciplinary, multijurisdictional team to handle the numerous legal aspects pertaining to our client’s needs. The Greenberg Traurig team included specialists in Capital Markets, M&A, Tax, IP & Technology, Real Estate, Labor & Employment, and Media.
