A SPAC sell-off has destroyed $75 billion in value over the past 6 months as interest in blank-check deals shrivels

• SPAC deals are falling from grace as $75 billion of value has evaporated in just six months, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• Some 75% of the 137 deals that closed by mid-February have fallen below their initial listing price.
• SPAC investors' discontent is evident in growing redemptions – cashing in on their right to pull out.
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SPAC deals are swiftly falling from grace as $75 billion of value has evaporated in just six months, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The collective value of 137 deals that closed by mid-February has plunged 25% since the start of the year, totalling $75 billion in lost value, according to the Journal, citing a Dow Jones Market Data analysis. Some 75% of the deals have fallen below their initial listing price – a marked contrast to the salad days of SPACs when prices would almost always go up.

That compares unfavorably to the Renaissance IPO ETF, which tracks the fortunes of recent IPOs and which lost 12% during the same period. Both trailed the broader S&P 500, gaining about 20% year-to-date.

The SPAC losses were particularly pronounced in green-energy deals that have attracted outsized attention from investors, including from those traditionally focused on fossil fuels.

"Air has come out of the bubble," Roy Behren, managing member at Westchester Capital Management, told the Journal. "That's the cost of speculating in companies that have potentially bright but uncertain futures."

Existing SPACs that have not yet closed deals are increasingly facing a choice between bad and worse. More than 95% of SPACs that have not announced deals are trading below their initial listing price, but it is now common for deal announcements to shrink share price, according to the Journal.

SPAC investors' discontent is evident in growing redemptions - cashing in on their right to pull out. On average, SPACs that closed in August saw 58% of shares get redeemed, according to SPAC Research data cited by DealBook.