May 13, 2021
The SPAC boom has resulted in more than 400 SPACs searching for targets. The SEC has opened investigations and issued a string of warnings about potential risks associated with companies going public through mergers with SPACs. Civil litigation has been growing. This webcast will provide the latest update on the state of the SPAC market, recent SEC guidance on SPACs, the issues that sponsors, boards, underwriters, advisers and auditors should be considering in connection with SPAC IPOs, de-SPAC transactions, disclosures, and strategies for mitigating the regulatory and litigation risk.
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PANELISTS:
Evan M. D’Amico is a partner in Gibson Dunn’s Washington, D.C. office, where his practice focuses primarily on mergers and acquisitions. Mr. D’Amico advises companies, private equity firms, boards of directors and special committees in connection with a wide variety of complex corporate matters, including mergers and acquisitions, asset sales, leveraged buyouts, spin-offs and joint ventures. He also has experience advising issuers, borrowers, underwriters and lenders in connection with financing transactions and public and private offerings of debt and equity securities. Mr. D’Amico has particular expertise in advising special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), operating companies and investors in connection with SPAC business combinations and financing transactions.
Brian Lutz is a partner in Gibson Dunn’s San Francisco where he is Co-Chair of the Firm’s National Securities Litigation Practice Group. Mr. Lutz has experience in a wide range of complex commercial litigation, with an emphasis on corporate control contests, securities litigation, and shareholder actions alleging breaches of fiduciary duties. He represents public companies, private equity firms, investment banks and clients across a variety of industries, including bio-pharma, tech, finance, retail, health care, energy, accounting and insurance.
Mark Schonfeld is a partner in Gibson Dunn’s New York office, and Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s Securities Enforcement Practice Group. Mr. Schonfeld’s practice focuses on the representation of financial institutions, public companies, hedge funds, accounting firms and private equity firms in investigations conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Justice (DOJ), States Attorneys General, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and other regulatory organizations. Mr. Schonfeld also conducts internal investigations and counsels clients on compliance and corporate governance matters.
Lori Zyskowski is a partner in the New York office and Co-Chair of the firm’s Securities Regulation and Corporate Governance practice. She was previously Executive Counsel, Corporate, Securities & Finance at GE. She advises clients, including public companies and their boards of directors, on a wide variety of corporate governance and securities disclosure issues, and provides a unique perspective gained from over 12 years working in-house at S&P 500 corporations.
Gerry Spedale is a partner in Gibson Dunn’s Houston office where he has a broad corporate practice, advising on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, capital markets transactions and corporate governance. He has extensive experience advising public companies, private companies, investment banks and private equity groups actively engaging or investing in multiple industries, including the energy industry. His over 20 years of experience covers a broad range of the energy industry, including upstream, midstream, downstream, oilfield services, utilities and renewables.
MODERATOR:
Stephen Glover is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office and Co-Chair of the firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group. Mr. Glover has an extensive practice representing public and private companies in complex mergers and acquisitions, including SPACs, spin-offs and related transactions, as well as other corporate matters. Mr. Glover’s clients include large public corporations, emerging growth companies and middle market companies in a wide range of industries. He also advises private equity firms, individual investors and others.
MCLE CREDIT INFORMATION:
This program has been approved for credit in accordance with the requirements of the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board for a maximum of 1.5 credit hours, of which 1.5 credit hours may be applied toward the areas of professional practice requirement.
This course is approved for transitional/non-transitional credit. Attorneys seeking New York credit must obtain an Affirmation Form prior to watching the archived version of this webcast. Please contact [email protected] to request the MCLE form.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP certifies that this activity has been approved for MCLE credit by the State Bar of California in the amount of 1.5 hours.
California attorneys may claim “self-study” credit for viewing the archived version of this webcast. No certificate of attendance is required for California “self-study” credit.