SPAC listings enjoy record month as $26 billion in share sales executed

What a time to be alive in the stock market.

A short-selling war is unfolding with GameStop.

A forum is trying to raise silver prices to $1,000.

Companies about nothing are raking in the dough.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg, it was a record month for special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC), executing approximately $26 billion of share sales in January, beating the previous record in October.

In total, the SPAC initial public offering (PIC) fundraising amount has already topped $63 billion this year, more than five times the amount from the same time a year ago.

But is winter coming for the SPAC crenzy?

From Bloomberg:

The SPAC craze in the U.S. continues unabated after around 90 new blank-check companies started trading this month. More than 60 additional SPACs have filed for IPOs since the start of the year, including vehicles backed by Apollo Global Management Inc. and Lazard Ltd., taking the average for January to three new deals per business day.

“When the market starts to cool a little, the chill may be coldest in the SPAC market,” said Nick O’Donnell, a London-based corporate partner at law firm Baker McKenzie. “There have been so many SPACs that, along with the winners, there are going to be a good number of losers.”

In a single day this month, former Citigroup Inc. rainmaker Michael Klein filed to raise funds for two separate blank-check companies, which will add to the series of five he’s already listed under the Churchill Capital moniker. Serial dealmaker Alec Gores revealed plans on Jan. 20 for his latest SPAC, Gores Holdings VII Inc., and then registered for Gores Holdings VIII Inc. a week later.

“Because of the fact that we have a number of these parties who are recurring issuers, the time from new IPO to a SPAC to signing an M&A deal continues to shrink,” said Kevin Brunner, Bank of America Corp.’s co-head of mergers and acquisitions for the Americas.

Indeed, you have to feel for anybody who is not in this market right now. The Federal Reserve has created an environment where anybody can make money.