March 1, 2021 | by Drew Bernstein, Co-Managing Partner, MarcumBP
If any dealmaker felt the pandemic pinch, one would expect it to be Euan Rellie, founder of cross-border M&A boutique investment bank BDA Partners. The sun never sets on BDA’s sprawling network of corporate matchmakers, with offices across Asia’s burgeoning economies, New York, and London. But COVID travel restrictions meant bankers and clients alike had their wings clipped for most of 2020, unable to peruse the tasty corporate assets on offer in places like China, Vietnam, India, and Korea.
February 1, 2021 | by Drew Bernstein, Co-Managing Partner, MarcumBP
The U.S. IPO market is off to a rollicking start in 2021, with 114 new listings in the month of January that have raised $36.1 billion. The top performer so far? RLX Technology, the Chinese e-cigarette purveyor that rocketed 146% on the first day's trading, is currently hovering at twice its offering price.
January 19, 2021 | by Drew Bernstein, Co-Managing Partner, MarcumBP
The White House put over a dozen Chinese companies on an investment blacklist. Congress passed legislation to enforce long-neglected requirements for audit inspections or delist the offending companies from U.S. exchanges. China’s government announced antitrust investigations that shook the value of internet goliaths, Alibaba and Tencent.
December 3, 2020 | by Drew Bernstein, Co-Managing Partner, MarcumBP
On December 2nd, 2020, the House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill that would bar Chinese companies from trading in the U.S. if their auditors are not subject to inspections by the PCAOB within three years. The "Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act" was passed by the Senate in May and will now be sent to President Trump to be signed into law.
November 13, 2020 | by Drew Bernstein, Co-Managing Partner, MarcumBP
For those unfamiliar with the term, SPACs, also known as ‘blank check companies’, seek to pool money from investors with a plan to acquire an existing asset. For example, it could be a company whose existing investors are looking for an exit and would be happy to sell their interest. For companies, it gives them a convenient method of getting onto an exchange – SPACs are already listed on stock markets through an initial public offering (IPO) – and it gives the people backing the SPAC a chance to quickly get exposure to an emerging trend like the stock market bull run experienced by technology companies this year.
October 5, 2020 | by Drew Bernstein, Co-Managing Partner, MarcumBP
Amid this year’s white-hot IPO market, the SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company, has incinerated previous records for this once-obscure financing vehicle. Thus far, in 2020, 116 SPACs have been funded through initial public offerings, raising $40 billion. SPACs make up the single largest “industry” group in 2020’s crop of IPOs, accounting for 45% of the number of new issues and 44% of total capital raised. More "blank check" companies debuted on NASDAQ and NYSE in August and September than "real" operating companies. The financing vehicle has attracted a host of luminaries, from investment icons like Bill Ackman of Pershing Square and Peter Thiel, baseball savant Billy Beane of “Moneyball,” and former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.