SPACs, Ag, and Japan

What is the SPAC environment in Japan, especially in relation to food and agriculture? Tokyo Corporate Partners Jeremy White and Mitsutoshi Uchida, along with Mitchell Presser, Global Corporate Co-Chair and Co-Chair of the Food and Agriculture Industry Group, who also co-leads the SPAC practice, delved into this topic at the Global AgInvesting Asia conference.

Despite Japan not having a SPAC listing system or active de-SPAC market to date, Japanese regulators have recognized the potential benefits of SPACs and have started discussing introducing SPACs in Japan as a tool to promote and expand start-up ventures.

They illustrated the potential demand in the de-SPAC market, of which agriculture investments could be target candidates, outlining local hurdles for U.S. SPACs to merge with Japanese companies and how the benefits of a de-SPAC transaction could outweigh the related costs.

With regard to possible SPAC listings, the speakers also highlighted how underwriters and the stock exchange conduct a listing review, the listing criteria for a company to go public, and the differences compared to the current Japanese listing system.

For more information visit Global AgInvesting.