Singapore, Hong Kong SPAC failures highlight thwarted ambitions

SINGAPORE -- Two years after Asia's two big financial hubs, Singapore and Hong Kong, allowed so-called blank-check companies as a novel way to help fast-growing tech startups and others go public on their bourses, the results have fallen short of expectations.

These fundraising vehicles, known as special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), raise money with a promise to invest in an operating company. They have largely failed to deliver an era of quicker listings of tech upstarts on Asian exchanges.