Jay Clayton has certainly been busy the last few months. Between reducing the amount of information available to investors while simultaneously limiting what those investors can do with the companies they own, giving as many people as possible the opportunity to lose money on alternative investments, sifting through whistleblower complaints, cutting checks to them, taking revenge, making phone calls and portentous statements, investigating coronavirus scandals of varying size, issuing slaps on the wrist, all the while making plans for his next step, you might think he wouldn’t have time to keep up with old friends like Gary Cohn and Paul Ryan. But you’d be wrong! He’s well aware of what they and everyone else on the Street is up to, and he’s keeping an eye on them (wink, wink), at least for the next couple of months.
“One of the areas in the SPAC space I’m particularly focused on, and my colleagues are particularly focused on, is the incentives and compensation to the SPAC sponsors,” Mr. Clayton said in an interview on CNBC. “How much of the equity do they have now? How much of the equity do they have at the time of the IPO-like transaction? What are their incentives?”…
Mr. Clayton’s comments were intended to communicate that regulators are closely reviewing SPAC written disclosures, a person familiar with the matter said. The SEC staff reviews thousands of public-company disclosures every year and offers written comments about them, with an eye toward enhancing disclosure for investors. Mr. Clayton’s remarks weren’t intended to signal the existence or possibility of enforcement action, the person said…. This has been a record year for new SPAC listings. So far in 2020, IPOs of new blank-check companies have raised $41.2 billion, handily breaking last year’s haul of $13.5 billion, which was then a record, according to Dealogic.
Blank-Check Firms Offering IPO Alternative Are Under Regulatory Scrutiny [WSJ]