Finance veteran Truell to restart European SPAC market with Amsterdam listing

Finance veteran Truell to restart European SPAC market with Amsterdam listing

British finance veteran Edi Truell is planning to list a blank cheque vehicle in Amsterdam in what would be the first special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to surface in Europe since the summer. Disruptive Capital Acquisition Company would look to raise up to 125 million pounds ($170 million) from its listing and would target a financial services company in Western or Northern Europe, according to a message to investors seen by Reuters. Truell is a director of private equity firm Disruptive Capital and also the co-founder of The Pension SuperFund, which was set up to take on the risk of beleaguered UK company pension schemes. The market for SPACs has diminished dramatically in recent months due to regulatory scrutiny and increased investor scepticism around a racy structure that allows companies a backdoor entry to a stock market listing. SPACs, also called blank cheque vehicles, are listed on a stock market backed by an entrepreneur or businessperson with a view to acquiring a private company in the future. Truell, who was also previously CEO of Pension Insurance Corporation, said the SPAC was targeting financial services in "asset-heavy, legacy businesses", such as insurance or reinsurance, which could be scaled up with the