Stefan Nolte on SPACs, expected SEC rules changes and the future of SPACs

AFCM Annual Conference Podium Discussion: “To SPAC or Not to SPAC: The Double-Edged Sword”

Our Managing Director and Senior SPAC Consultant Stefan Nolte has been invited as a guest speaker to the podium discussion at the Annual Conference 2022 of the Arab Federation of Capital Markets (AFCM), themed “To SPAC or Not to SPAC: The Double-Edged Sword”.

A fruitful discussion  took place on March 30, 2022, with the other podium participants, Marcus Bailey  (Associate Partner at EY), Mohamed Farid Saleh (Executive Chairman, The Egyptian Exchange), and Mostafa Kandil (Co-Founder and CEO of swvl, a ridesharing startup going public via a SPAC).

Mostafa Kandil shared precious insight into swvl’s M&A journey, while Mohammed Farid Saleh elaborated on the importance of SPAC to capitalize companies in Egypt and in Africa in general. Marcus Baily focused on the developments on the SPAC market since the last months. 

Stefan Nolte explained that the expected rules changes for SPACs will mainly have a effect on SPACs that are more on the speculative side and those SPACs that acquire pre-revenue startups, although SPACs are traditionally expected to acquire a company with an ongoing business. Despite that it is not yet clear what the new rules will provide for, serious SPACs with an excellent management team and with a resilient acquisition strategy are here to stay.

Important note:
SPAC Consultants is not offering and/or providing investment advisory services in the sense of regulated investment advisory services as per respective EU Directives and their implementation into national law of EU Member States. Instead, SPAC Consultants offers SPAC Project Management services and consults regarding the general principles of US SPACs and their business structuring. Any investment, legal and financial advice that may become necessary for possible sponsors and investors at advanced stages will be provided by the network partners of SPAC Consultants.