Out of Bill Ackman’s SPAC woes comes innovation

IN THE CLASSICSPACSPACSPAC 1980s arcade game, Pac-Man is pursued by killer ghosts as he attempts to achieve his goal of gobbling up little dots. These colourful ghosts have various tactics to scupper Pac-Man: “Blinky” (the red one) gives chase; “Pinky” and “Inky” (the pink and the blue spooks) obstruct his path and attempt to corner him.Bill Ackman, a hedge-fund tycoon turned sponsor of a “special-purpose acquisition company” (), has become a financial Pac-Man of sorts. The goal of a is to gobble up a private company and take it public. It raises capital from investors that is held in a listed vehicle while it seeks a merger target. In July last year Mr Ackman raised $4bn for Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, making it by far the biggest created. But he has been pursued by a bevy of ghosts.