The week started off with a bang as Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Latham & Watkins facilitated Illumina’s acquisition of GRAIL for $8 billion and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Skadden, Arps, Meagher, Slate & Flom worked on Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax media for $7.5 billion. 

This week also seemed to usher the SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company, into the world of mainstream financing vehicles.