Goldman Sachs sharpens push to win Asia SPAC market share (updated)

Seojin Automotive

12/03/2021 13:38

(Adds ReNew power deal in 7th paragraph)
    By Scott Murdoch and Kane Wu
    HONG KONG, March 12 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs  GS.N  is
aiming to snare a bigger share of the booming number of Special
Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) deals in Asia by having
senior bankers specifically target these blank cheque
transactions across the region.
    The initiative was put in place towards the end of last year
- but has not been reported - when SPACs started taking off in
Asia following rapid growth in these deals elsewhere, including
in the United States.    
    A SPAC typically raises money to acquire a private company
with the purpose of taking it public, allowing such targets to
move more quickly to the public markets than via a traditional
initial public offering.
    Hong Kong-based Raghav Maliah, the global vice chairman of
Goldman Sachs’ investment banking division, leads the initiative
together with Vikram Chavali and Edward Byun who are also in
Hong Kong.
    "We are seeing a great deal of capital markets and M&A
activity across the region, including increased SPAC involvement
both on the IPO and M&A fronts," Maliah told Reuters in an
interview.
    "SPACs have become an incrementally relevant product for
consideration when they think through ways to achieve their
goals."
    India’s ReNew Power, in which Goldman Sachs is an investor,
announced on Feb. 24 it would go public through an $8 billion
merger with a blank-check firm in RMG Acquisition Corp II.
Goldman Sachs was also an advisor to the company on the
transaction.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2KU3J6
    Chavali, an investment banking managing director, covers
technology, media and telecom (TMT) sectors for Goldman Sachs
across Asia Pacific ex-Japan.
    Byun is an Equity Capital Markets (ECM) managing director
specialising in TMT and high growth sectors across the region.
    Goldman's specialist team contrasts with most other "bulge
bracket" investment banks operating across Asia, which carry out
SPAC work primarily through their ECM businesses.
    In Asia, SPAC deal volumes are some way behind those in the
United States.
    There have been $2.64 billion worth of SPAC deals in Asia so
far in 2021, which is already more than $2.46 billion for 2020,
based on Dealogic data.
    Globally, there have been $79.3 billion worth of SPACs
issues since the start of the year, almost eclipsing the $83.3
billion raised in total for 2020, the Dealogic data showed.
    Citigroup  C.N  is the most active SPAC bookrunner with a
14% share of the market worldwide, ahead of Goldman Sachs at 12%
and Credit Suisse  CSGN.S  at 9%, based on Dealogic data.

 (Reporting by Scott Murdoch and Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Editing
by Jane Merriman and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
 ((Scott.Murdoch@thomsonreuters.com;))