Opinion article by Bruno Ferreira - SPACs, for the survival of the Portuguese equity market

Bruno Ferreira, PLMJ's managing partner and a lawyer in the Banking and Finance and Capital Markets practice has published another opinion article on Special Purpose Acquisition Vehicles or SPACs. In it, he emphasises that "the diagnosis has been made and is the result of a remarkable work carried out by the OECD and supported by the CMVM. We already knew that the situation was very worrying but the comparison of our equity capital market with the other European markets is, of course, still striking in a negative way".

For Bruno, "the companies that are considering resorting to the equity market to finance themselves cite regulatory complexity, the high costs inherent in complying with corporate governance and compliance rules and the lack of liquidity in the Portuguese market as the main reasons for not going ahead with an IPO.

In this context, "one of the most interesting tools available to the legislature are the Special Purpose Acquisition Vehicles or SPACs. The OECD has recommended their introduction in Portugal and they are currently one of the main ways to bring companies into the equity market, particularly in the United States".

The article is available on the website of Jornal Económico (in Portuguese) here.