New SPAC Index Beckons ETFs While a Now-Dead Gauge Warns of Pain
- Hottest trend in IPOs heats up the race to launch themed funds
- ‘You can lose a lot of money,’ defunct index says on website
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The advent of an exchange-traded fund that tracks special purpose acquisition companies appears to be a question of when and not if. And the launch of a SPAC index may speed up that evolution.
The IPOX SPAC Index quietly went live on July 31 amid a feverish pace of SPAC initial public offerings that has yet to abate. Almost 90 so-called blank-check companies have debuted on U.S. exchanges, collectively raising more than $34 billion this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Acting as a shell company, their express purpose is to buy another company looking to go public.