The Hong Kong Stock Exchange will allow specialized mergers and acquisitions companies (SPACs) to list securities on its floor from January 1, 2022, according to the exchange’s new rules published on Friday. These companies will be subject to rules similar to the requirements for initial public offerings (IPOs).

A number of investors and investment banks have already expressed the opinion that the rules are too strict, and as a result, activity involving such firms in Hong Kong may be low, The Wall Street Journal writes. The rulebook for SPACs was published by Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. (HKEx), the operator of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, back in September, after which the operator invited professional participants to express their views on the requirements.

As a result, minor changes were made to the final set of requirements – for example, SPAC shares must be purchased by at least 20 institutional investors instead of the proposed 30, and the volume of options to purchase such shares may not exceed 50% of the total issue volume instead of the previous limit of 30%.

SPACs have recently gained popularity over traditional IPOs due to the simplified listing procedure – the volume of transactions involving them in 2021 exceeded $155 billion, according to SPAC Research. At the same time, some experts note that such a scheme protects ordinary investors worse – in particular, this was mentioned last week by Gary Gensler, head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).