By Stephen Lacey
“I think there was a perception out there that we had not done a lot of SPACs,” said one source at the bank. “So there was a little bit of marketing to external clients behind the group’s formation.”
SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies, are investment vehicles that raise capital for an acquisition. Proceeds from a SPAC IPO are held in escrow, with the majority of funding returned to investors if a target is not found within a pre-determined timeframe.
SPACs, which are not eligible for official league table credit, have grown in popularity, accounting for 25%–30% of overall IPO volume in the US, by some estimates.
Mather, a managing director, joined Jefferies last summer from Cowen & Company, where he was head of the private equity group. He is based in New York and reports to Tim Monfort, head of ECM. Other members of the structured equity group include senior VP Abi Subramanian, who came with Mather from Cowen, and VP Mark Weissman.