On 22 February 2021, luxury electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Motors agreed to go public by merging with the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) Churchill Capital Corp IV in a deal that valued the combined company at USD 24 billion. While SPACs are a dominant trend in the U.S. (representing 198 out of the 244 IPOs to date in 2021), continental Europe lags behind, with an incipient revival of SPACs in Germany with the IPO of Lakestar SPAC 1 SE in February 2021. To date, no SPAC has been incorporated in Switzerland and listed on Swiss stock exchanges. However, this might be about to change, not least because of the revision of the law on joint-stock corporations. Against this background, this article briefly highlights the key aspects of a SPAC-transaction and discusses three selected issues these vehicles have to face in Swiss capital markets law and regulation. 

By Claude Humbel / Thomas van Gammeren (Reference: CapLaw-2021-16)