For years, market participants in the UK have looked longingly at the Spac market in the US. As of 11 August, 626 Spacs have filed for IPO on US Exchanges so far in 2021. By contrast, this year London has seen only a handful of Spacs on its market.

Why can’t London get its act together? It’s the UK’s listing rules and their inflexibility, came the answer. So in April, the FCA consulted on proposals to change them to align the UK Spac regime more closely with the US and elsewhere in Europe. In July, the FCA published changes to the listings rules, which took effect on 10 August.