Special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs) have been all the rage in the US recently, but on the other side of the Atlantic, there has only been silence.

There have been no listings of so-called blank cheque companies – which are set up with the sole purpose of making an acquisition – in Europe this year, according to Dealogic data. In contrast, there have been 48 Spac initial public offerings in the US so far, raising nearly $18.4bn in total.