Special-purpose acquisition companies are regaining popularity as a means to go public, as banks continue to overlook small and mid-sized companies for traditional IPOs. (Bloomberg)

Talking point: SPACs offer private companies a path to the public markets without having to carry out their own IPO. Instead, the firm merges with a blank-cheque company—the SPAC—which has already gone public. As of June 30, there were 63 new SPACs listed in the U.S. and 43 others poised to do so, according to data analytics firm SPAC Research. Meanwhile, 22 companies had gone public by merging with a SPAC, with 90 more having started the process. The numbers are still well below the 2021 boom, when 613 SPACs went public and 199 firms merged with the blank-cheque firms. But the market is far outpacing the sluggish past few years. Better stock performance among companies that have recently gone public is one factor driving the resurgence, Beau Bohm, global co-head of equity capital markets at Cantor Fitzgerald, told Bloomberg. He said there’s also been an overall improvement in quality of SPAC issuers.