This is a much-needed work in the financial literature, and it is the first book ever to analyse the use of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) from a theoretical and practical perspective. By the end of 2020, more than 240 SPACs were listed in the US (on NASDAQ or the NYSE), raising a record $83 billion. The SPAC craze has been shaking the US for months, mainly because of its simplicity: a bunch of investors decides to buy shares at a fixed price in a company that initially has no assets. In this way, a SPAC, also known as a "blank check company", is created as an empty shell with lots of money to spend on a corporate shopping spree. Could the trend be here to stay? Are SPACs the new legitimate path to traditional IPO? This book tackles those questions and more. The author provides a thorough analysis of SPACs including their legal framework and how they are used as a risk mitigation tool to structure transactions. The main objectives of the book are focused on finding a working definition for SPACs and theorising on their origins, definition, and evolution; identifying the objectives of financial regulation within the context of the recent financial crisis (2007–2010) and the one that is currently unfolding (Covid-19); and also describing practical examples of SPACs through a comparative study that, for the first time, outlines every major capital market on which SPACs are listed, in order to identify a possible international standard of regulation. The book is relevant to academics as well as policymakers, international financial regulators, corporate finance lawyers as well as to the financial industry tout court . "The book Mergers, Acquisitions and International Financial Regulation: Analyzing Special Purpose Acquisition Companies , by Daniele D’Alvia, with a foreword written by my student Yochanan Shachmurove, is the first book on Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) that uses a comparative perspective. The book provides insights to one of the re-emerging financial instruments that is currently attracting attention by financial- market practitioners and researchers. A worth-reading book."― Professor Finn Kydland (Nobel Laureate), University of California, Santa Barbara, California. "Written with unusual clarity and insight, this is a major contribution on an important, emerging topic. Daniele D’Alvia is to be congratulated on the dual achievements of pioneering the analysis of a largely neglected topic and telling the story with a novelist’s flair." ― Ross P Buckley , KPMG-KWM Professor of Disruptive Innovation, UNSW Sydney. "Daniele D'Alvia is an academic and corporate finance lawyer, and one of not many academic experts with SPAC advisory experience. The well-researched book tells the unique story of SPACs. Indeed, SPACs are financial innovations and are the disruptors of traditional M&A and IPO process. The book has Chapters on SPACs' financial regulation, its evolution and a difficult to challenge view on self-correcting market practices. Chapter 5 includes interesting thoughts on the evolving De-SPAC transactions. The book serves as a guide to sponsors, investors, listing venues, lawyers, including in-house lawyers of SPAC target companies." ― Ferdinand Mason , Partner at White & Case LLP, London. "The book argues that SPACs are a fund-raising innovation that will stand the test of time. A richly argued resource for theoretical and up-to-date legal discussions on SPACs, a must-have for researchers and practitioners in this area."― Iris H-Y Chiu , Professor of Corporate Law and Financial Regulation, University College London. "An insightful read from one of the few expert in SPACs at international level. The book contains some great tips to ensure your SPAC is a success. Highly practical and commercially focused, the book provides a good and provocative contribution to alternative acquisition models. Scholars, corporate finance lawyers, sponsors and investors in the field should save a place for it on their shelves."― Luca Fabio Giacometti , Chairman and CEO of Galileo Acq. Corp., USA. "SPACs are the financial asset class poorly understood by most stakeholders and carrying undeserved label of opaqueness. This pioneer book by Daniele D'Alvia educates and explains why SPACs are viable and sustainable financing mechanism."― Milos Vulanovic , Associate Professor of Finance at EDHEC Business School. "With torrents of money jostling for return in a zero-interest-rate-world, listed shell companies created specially to acquire growing firms (SPACs) became a popular alternative to IPOs in 2020. Daniele D’Alvia’s book provides an excellent introduction to the history, operation, and rationale behind SPACs."― Prof. David Donald , Attorney at Law (New York) and Professor at the Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. "The book provides a useful and innovative contribution to the burgeoning debate on Special Purpose Acquisition Companies. It is highly