Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary breaks down his strategy for picking SPACs — and explains why he'd bet on Bill Ackman and 3 other leaders

Advertisement
Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary breaks down his strategy for picking SPACs — and explains why he'd bet on Bill Ackman and 3 other leaders
ABC
  • Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary appeared on CNBC's Tuesday Halftime Report and said he is "very selective" in his choice of SPAC leaders.
  • "There's a lot of really bad product out there versus good product," the investor said. He recommended examining a SPAC leader's track record before buying in.
  • He listed Bill Ackman, Todd Boehly, Michael Klein, and Alec Gores as four SPAC leaders with long track records of success.
  • "Do I want to bet with Bill? Sure, I'll give him some dough," O'Leary said.

Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary shared his SPAC-picking strategy during CNBC's Halftime Report on Tuesday.

O'Leary said he is "very selective" in his choice of leaders and recommends investors examine a SPAC leader's track record before buying. He named Bill Ackman, Todd Boehly, Michael Klein, and Alec Gores as investors with long track records of success.

"There's a lot of really bad product out there versus good product. But give me a guy like Alec Gores or Bill Ackman to be the sponsor and I look at this track record. You don't have to love him, you just have to look at his track record and I'm pretty happy," he said.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Read more: Sustainable-stock funds are snapping up shares of these 20 companies — and most of them beat the market during September's turmoil, RBC says

CNBC showed a list of O'Leary's SPAC "buys" which included Ackman's Pershing Square Tontine, GSC Acquisition Holdings II, and Tailwind Acquisition.

"Do I want to bet with Bill? Sure I'll give him some dough. Todd Boehly? Absolutely, the guy's track record is spectacular out West. I want to give these guys money to put to work for me," he said. "And basically because we have less and less public companies, what they're going to do is find something and take it public, and I'll be getting in hopefully on the ground floor."

Todd Boehly is behind the Horizon Acquisition Corporation SPAC.

O'Leary also said that choosing a SPAC to invest in can get complicated, and therefore he doesn't recommend them to everyone. But investors who are interested should read the SEC form S-1 filings of the blank check firm before they buy in.

{{}}