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New SEC rule: Blank-check companies, acquisition targets must make more disclosures

Image of Buzzfeed CEO posing in front of Nasdaq exterior billboard that notes the company going public with shares trading at the exchange.
Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Rules target deals involving SPACs – or shell companies that raise funds through a listing with the intention of acquiring a private company and taking it public.

Blank-check companies and their acquisition targets in the United States will take on more legal liability for disclosures about projected earnings and other material information under new rules adopted by the SEC yesterday.

The changes target deals involving “special-purpose acquisition companies” (SPACs), which are shell companies that raise funds through