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SPACs are publicly traded corporations formed with the sole purpose of effecting a merger with a privately held business to enable it to go public. In 2020, SPACs accounted for more than 50% of new publicly listed U.S. In 2019, 59 were created, with $13 billion invested in 2020, 247 were created, with $80 billion invested and in the first quarter of 2021 alone, 295 were created, with $96 billion invested.
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Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, have been around in various forms for decades, but during the past two years they’ve taken off in the United States.
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