U.S. SPAC IPO Registrations Filed per Month

## What this measures

How many special purpose acquisition companies (blank-check shells) publicly filed a first registration statement in the month: original S-1 and F-1 filings by companies with SIC code 6770 or a blank-check name.

## Why it matters

SPAC filings rise and fall with speculative appetite and with how easily sponsors can find targets and investors. They boomed and collapsed within two years earlier this decade, so the filing count is a quick read on that cycle.

## How to read it

Higher means more sponsors are raising blank-check vehicles. Read it with SPAC IPOs priced (ipo.us.spac.monthly) and the SPAC share of IPOs (ipo.us.spac_share.quarterly).

## What it does not say

A filed registration is not an IPO: many are withdrawn or never priced, and some first-time S-1 filings register shares for resale or for tiny self-underwritten offerings that never list on an exchange. Since 2012 most issuers first submit a draft registration statement confidentially (Form DRS); the public S-1 follows weeks or months later, so this count lags the true start of IPO preparation. The industry code is the company's current one. A SPAC that files under an operating-style name and an industry code other than 6770 is counted with operating companies.

## How it's built

Palanor counts original registration statements on Form S-1 (U.S. issuers) and Form F-1 (foreign private issuers) by the date filed, when the company had filed no annual or quarterly report (10-K, 10-Q, 20-F, 40-F or their variants) before that date: a first-time registrant. Amendments (S-1/A, F-1/A) are not counted. SPAC registrations (SIC code 6770 or a blank-check name such as "... Acquisition Corp") are counted separately. History comes from the EDGAR quarterly form indexes from 2001 and the company records in EDGAR's bulk submissions file; a daily job reads the daily form indexes. The month in progress is left out until it ends.

## Source

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR full and daily form indexes (sec.gov/Archives/edgar), company filing histories (data.sec.gov submissions) and EDGAR's bulk submissions file. Public domain: "Information presented on sec.gov is considered public information and may be copied or further distributed by users of the web site without the SEC's permission" (SEC website dissemination policy, sec.gov/about/privacy-information).