The Financial News is reporting that no SPACs priced in April, according to data from Dealogic. The number of SPACs is expected to fall by 10% this year, according to the financial research firm, but average listing size is expected to increase.
Once a niche product, SPACs became all the rage last year in an environment of tight credit and a frozen IPO market. Last year, 66 SPACs raised $12 billion and accounted for almost 25% of all U.S.-based IPOs. However, 2008 has seen a big slowdown. Earlier this month, The Deal's Vyvyan Tenorio wrote:
The window for initial public offerings for SPACs is effectively shut, according to industry sources, because of a glut in registrations ... the large backlog of about 70 registrations has strained the market's capacity. "There's too much supply of issuers and just not enough demand," said a New York investment banker.
Thus far in 2008, only 12 SPACs completed IPOs, and the glut of offerings stuck in the IPO pipeline may remain for some time as choosy investors are taking a chance on only the highest-quality companies. -
George WhiteSee story from Financial NewsSee story about SPACs from The Deal newsweekly
Comments
Has the market's mania for special purpose acquisition companies run out of gas? Judging by the number of new blank-checks going public in April, that may be the case. 
FYI