ASIA’S billionaires had only just started taking to blank-check companies, but now the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) boom is deflating on Wall Street. After a frenzy of listings by special purpose acquisition companies — 326 have raised over US$101 billion this year — the whole pipeline is now in limbo due to regulatory overhang, including a number of deals by Asian investment firms and tycoons. Gateway Strategic Acquisition Co., backed by buyout firm Gaw Capital Advisors Ltd., Artisan Acquisition Corp., backed by New World Development Co.’s Adrian Cheng and Hony Capital Acquisition Corp. are some of the Asian SPACs that are waiting in the wings to list in the United States. They all filed over two weeks ago, meaning they can launch the initial public offering, but have yet to do so. But they are now waiting until market sentiment improves, Bloomberg News quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week put a dampener on the SPAC party by setting forth new guidance that warrants, which are issued to early investors in the deals, might not be considered equity instruments and may instead be liabilities for accounting purposes. That threatens to disrupt filings for blank-check companies until the issue is resolved. It’s bad timing for Asia’s entrepreneurs. In addition to those waiting to launch, more SPACs are being planned by the likes of Hong Kong property tycoon Li Ka-shing, New Frontier Group Ltd., backed by Nan Fung Group, and private equity firm EmergeVest. The latest moves by the SEC “no doubt mean that the clearing of SEC registration statements of Asian SPACs (and indeed SPACs elsewhere in the world) will likely take longer as the issuer considers their impact and addresses the likely related comments from the SEC staff,” said Thomas Vita, corporate finance partner at global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright. Asian SPACs have raised US$3.1 billion this year, already exceeding the tally from such deals in all of 2020. (SD-Agencies) | 