The Latest SPAC News and Rumors: December 8, 2022

Below is a daily summary of links to the latest SPAC news and rumors gathered across the web. 

Latest SPAC News: Palihapitiya blames Fed for crushing the blank-check bubble, and Hong Kong is set to regain top-three IPO ranking in 2022

SPAC king Chamath Palihapitiya says the Fed crushed the bubble in blank-check firms

The Fed crushed the bubble in special purpose acquisition companies, Chamath Palihapitiya said, deflecting blame for the poor performance of companies he took public in recent years.

“Nobody forced anybody to invest in anything,” the venture capitalist, who is also known as the “SPAC King,” told the New York Times, adding that Fed rate hikes ended the era of cheap money that allowed so-called blank check companies to thrive.

The comments doubled down on his previous attempts to pin the responsibility on the central bank and its chairman. “The long-term regime in which we operate has changed,” he said at a conference in Manhattan in October. “That is not in the control of one human being except Jerome Powell.”

Hong Kong is set to regain top-three IPO ranking in 2022, says KPMG China

Following a resurgence in IPO activity in the second half of the year, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is expected to rank third globally in terms of total funds raised in 2022. With a solid pipeline of companies planning to list in the year ahead, the Hong Kong IPO market is expected to continue this momentum into 2023.

Additionally, the Hong Kong SPAC regime has had a steady start, with 14 special purpose acquisition companies submitting IPO applications, of which four have listed.