Top 20 financial advisors to SPAC acquisitions in the U.S. 2021, by deal value

In the first quarter of 2021, Citigroup was the leading financial advisor on SPAC acquisitions in the United States in terms of the transaction value of deals completed. The rise of special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) acquisitions is creating new business for many of the world's largest investment banks, and the U.S. was the most active region for SPAC IPOs globally. The total value of deals Citigroup advised on reached over 123 billion U.S. dollars in the first three months of 2021, followed by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Guggenheim Capital LLC, with approximately 85.7 billion and 69 billion U.S. dollars, respectively.

Rise in popularity of SPACs since 2020

SPACs are public companies with no commercial operations, which raise money from investors via an IPO and then aim to merge or acquire a private company. This allows the private company to go public outside of the traditional IPO process, which is generally slower and involves a lengthier auditing process. The number of SPAC IPOs in the U.S. rapidly increased in 2020 and they remain a popular option for a private company to get listed in 2021. Significantly more money was raised during this time, which means that the SPACs had greater capital to invest into their subsequent M&A deals with private companies.

Which sectors are the most popular targets for SPACs?

SPACs having more capital on hand has also increased the size of SPAC M&A deals globally. SPACs typically target private companies in a particular sector for acquisitions. In 2020, SPACs in the U.S. targeting the technology sector raised significantly more funds than those targeting other sectors.