Investment Outlook: 2021 Looks Bright – a blog by Craig Clay, President of Global Capital Markets, DFIN

Despite the pandemic, 2020 was the biggest year for IPOs since 2014, and I am confident that the positive trend will continue in 2021.

2020 Review and 2021 Outlook – an exclusive interview with Craig Clay, President of Global Capital Markets, DFIN with DealStreetAsia

In conversation with DealStreetAsia (DSA), Craig Clay, President of Global Capital Markets, DFIN discussed how the US election will impact dealmaking, the rise of SPACs, virtual due diligence and how having a risk and compliance solutions partner can smoothen the path to an IPO and beyond. Here are some excerpts from the interview:

Deal-making has traditionally been and is likely to remain dependent on interpersonal relationships. But technology is playing an increasingly critical role in helping private equity and venture capital firms to not only take quicker, more informed decisions on deals, but also obtain a more thorough understanding of the target company’s business, assets, financial performance and risks in acquisitions. COVID-19 has shown few signs of abating but new waves are still impacting many parts of the Asia-Pacific region.

Listen to Donnelley Financial Solutions (DFIN) and a panel of experts for an informative webcast, providing you insights to better understand the emerging importance of oversight of ESG.  Our panel included distinguished speakers from Harvard Management Company, Kirkland & Ellis, Warburg Pincus, Two Sigma, and McKinsey & Company.

SPAC Transactions

The numbers alone speak volumes. As of mid-September 2020, 95 SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies) with a valuation of approximately $35 billion had priced year to date, shattering “all previous records,” said Craig Clay, President of Global Capital Markets for Donnelley Financial Solutions. In contrast, he said, for the full year of 2019, 59 SPACs had priced, and even this represented a sizeable increase over 46 in 2018 and 34 in 2017.

The market for SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies, is “shattering all previous records,” according to Craig Clay, President of Global Capital Markets for Donnelley Financial Solutions. In a September 16th webinar hosted by J. P. Morgan, Clay noted that as of mid-September, 95 SPACs with a valuation of approximately $35 billion (£25 billion) had priced year to date. What’s more, 43 other SPACs are currently on file with the SEC, pending pricing. This stands in dramatic contrast to 2019, when just 59 SPACs were priced during the full 12-month period.

This article was originally posted on ILTA.

Recently, a surge in AI-powered virtual data rooms (VDRs) have proved helpful in optimizing due diligence tasks like redaction. Data redaction tools have emerged to remove key terms quickly and relatively easily, saving sellers time and energy. Where these tools fall short, however, is in their ability to eliminate much of the manual effort still needed to structure and guide how information is redacted.

Since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took effect in May 2018, companies around the globe have been struggling to understand and meet the standards of this regulation, while additional legislation around the world continues to evolve and new policies are passed into law.

Control and security
Most of us are familiar with file sharing sites, having used them in our personal lives.

These services allow users to create, store and share files in a cloud-based repository that syncs in real-time across all devices. Users have some control over who can access, share, download and edit files, but that’s mostly where the control starts and stops.