Doug Ellenoff has been doing SPACs a long time.

And with more than 22 years in the field and involvement in more than 700 such vehicles under his belt, he brings a much different perspective on the market than many lawyers that may have recently jumped into special purpose acquisition companies.

On this week’s Drink’s with The Deal podcast, Ellenoff, who heads up the SPAC practice at Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP, doesn’t mince words in talking about the oversize role the Securities and Exchange Commission plays in the market. The regulator has been aggressive and at times has all but frozen the sector, much to the chagrin of Ellenoff and others.

When Covid shut down the IPO market in 2020, SPACs were the only game in town, and the market went from sleepy to red hot to burnt out.

Ellenoff has remained a bull about the SPAC market, even as academics and regulators have hammered the industry over a perceived lack of transparency and an impact on retail investors.

While many market observers have written their obituaries for SPACs, Ellenoff said that there will always be a need for IPO alternatives and that SPACs and those who invest in them are here to stay.

Listen to the podcast with Doug Ellenoff below:

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