(Reuters) - 美国证券监管者正对华尔街的空头支票并购热潮展开调查，要求投行提供风险管控相关信息，四位直接知情人士告诉路透社。
美国证监会（The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission，简称SEC）最近几天向华尔街投行致信，索问与特殊目的并购公司（SPAC）交易相关的信息。
SEC拒绝对此发表评论。SEC此前曾表示其正在对SPAC热潮进行监控，但致信这一举动表明，SEC针对相关交易和担任承销商的华尔街投行迈出了更为强劲的监管步伐。
SEC在这些信件中要求投行自愿提供信息，因此并未构成正式调查，两位知情人士表示。
不过，其中一人告诉路透社，这些信件是由SEC的执法部发出的，暗示着它们可能是正式调查的前奏。
该位人士说，SEC要求获知SPAC交易费用、量级，以及投行内部对相关交易的监督方法。另一位知情人士说，SEC询问了与合规、报告和内控相关问题。
近期的SPAC热潮开始遭遇投资人怀疑，自3月起，SPAC首日交易股价开始跳水，此类交易也引发了监管者关注。
3月，SEC警告投资者不要因为追求“名人效应”购买SPAC股票，并表示其正在密切关注SPAC的披露和其他“结构性”问题。
SEC还对部分通过SPAC交易完成上市的企业进行了调查，其中包括电动车制造商Lordstown Motors Corp和Nikola Corp，以及保险技术公司Clover Health Investments。
根据斯坦福大学收集的数据，投资者在2021年第一季度已经对八家与SPAC合并的企业发起诉讼。部分诉讼声称，SPAC和发起人为了在合并标的后收割巨额收益，在交易前隐瞒了可能存在的弱点问题。
SEC可能担忧SPAC在并购资产前尽职调查的程度，以及是否向投资者披露了巨额支出，另一消息源表示。
另一个潜在担忧则是SPAC上市和宣布并购标的时，内幕交易可能引发的高风险，一知情人士补充说。
“华尔街最大的投行正被问道：到底发生了什么？”该人说道。
“SPAC太多了。IPO层面留给SPAC的资本量终究是有限的，它并未某种取之不竭的资本库 。”对冲基金DuPont Capital的SPAC投资组合经理Harris Arch曾在此前的采访中告诉路透社。
“过去几个月中我们看到的热潮、疯狂和贪婪正在加速撤离市场。”他说。
U.S. regulator opens inquiry into Wall Street's blank check IPO frenzy
(Reuters) - The U.S. securities regulator has opened an inquiry into Wall Street’s blank check acquisition frenzy and is seeking information on how underwriters are managing the risks involved, said four people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in recent days sent letters to Wall Street banks seeking information on their special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, dealings, the four people said.
The SEC, which declined to comment for this story, has previously said it was monitoring the SPAC boom, but the letters are the strongest sign yet that it is stepping up scrutiny of such deals and the Wall Street banks that underwrite them.
In the letters, the SEC asked the banks to provide the information voluntarily and, as such, did not rise to the level of a formal investigative demand, two of the sources said.
However, one of those two people said letters were sent by the SEC’s enforcement division, suggesting they may be a precursor to a formal investigation.
This person said the SEC wanted information on SPAC deal fees, volumes, and what controls banks have in place to police the deals internally. The second above source said the SEC asked questions relating to compliance, reporting and internal controls.
But the frenzy has started to encounter greater skepticism among investors, with first-day trading share price jumps for SPACs fading in March, and has also caught the eye of regulators.
This month, the SEC warned investors against buying into SPACs based on celebrity endorsements and said it was closely watching SPAC disclosures and other “structural” SPAC issues.
The SEC has also scrutinized some companies that went public via SPAC deals, including electric vehicle-makers Lordstown Motors Corp, Nikola Corp and Clover Health Investments, the companies have disclosed.
Investors have sued eight companies that combined with SPACs in the first quarter of 2021, according to data compiled by Stanford University. Some of the lawsuits allege the SPACs and their sponsors, who reap huge pay-days once a SPAC combines with its target, hid weaknesses ahead of the transactions.
The SEC may be worried about the depth of due diligence SPACs perform before acquiring assets, and whether huge payouts are fully disclosed to investors, said a third source.
Another potential concern is the heightened risk of insider trading between when a SPAC goes public and when it announces its acquisition target, the second source added.
“Wall Street’s biggest banks are being asked: what’s going on?” the person said.
“We’re seeing so many SPACs. There’s a finite amount of capital at the IPO level that is available for SPACs and there’s not an endless pool of capital,” said Harris Arch, SPAC Portfolio Manager at hedge fund DuPont Capital.
“The frenzy and the exuberance and greed we saw a couple months have quickly left the market,” Arch said.
