SPACs aren’t dead yet. Perceptive Advisors has filed plans to raise $75 million for Perceptive Capital Solutions Corp., a special purpose acquisition company.
The health care and life sciences specialist plans to sell 7.5 million shares at the usual SPAC IPO price of $10 per share. Unlike with most SPAC IPOs, investors will not receive warrants, which they could eventually use to buy additional shares after an acquisition or merger, the filing stressed.
The SPAC will seek to do a deal with a company in a health care–related industry, particularly a North American or European company in the life sciences and medical technology sector, where “management has extensive investment experience,” according to the filing.
Specifically, Perceptive said it is seeking to acquire companies it believes have a scientific or other competitive advantage; are ready to go public; have strong management, corporate governance, and reporting policies in place; will likely be well received by public investors; and will offer attractive risk-adjusted equity returns for shareholders.
Joseph Edelman founded Perceptive in 1999. It currently manages about $8 billion, according to its website, focusing on public and private companies in the life sciences and medical technology sectors through its hedge funds and venture capital funds. It had investments in 210 companies as of December 31, 2023. Its main hedge fund was down 1.7 percent for 2024 through April after losing 11.6 percent last month, according to someone who has seen the results.
Perceptive is no stranger to SPACs. It launched a few during the SPAC mania several years ago, with mixed success.
In July 2020, ARYA Sciences Acquisition Corp. completed a deal with Immatics Biotechnologies. The merged company’s stock recently closed at $10.94. In October 2020, ARYA Sciences Acquisition Corp. II finalized a merger with Cerevel Therapeutics, and on December 6, 2023, Cerevel agreed to be acquired by AbbVie. Shares of Cerevel recently closed at $42.05.
ARYA Sciences Acquisition Corp. III completed a merger with Nautilus Biotechnology in June 2021. The newly merged company’s stock recently traded at just $2.84. In July 2023, ARYA Sciences Acquisition Corp. V announced it would not complete a deal and was liquidated after the cash held in trust was returned to its shareholders. On February 13, 2024, ARYA Sciences Acquisition Corp. IV and Adagio Medical agreed to a merger, which is expected to close in the second half of this year. Shares of ARYA Sciences Acquisition Corp. IV recently closed at $11.45.
Perceptive is not the only life sciences hedge fund firm to launch a SPAC this year.
Institutional Investor previously reported that Cormorant Asset Management raised $100 million for Helix Acquisition II, its second blank-check company.
“All companies coming public will go up or down according to how good their fundamentals are and develop,” Cormorant founder Bihua Chen told II in a text exchange at the time. “If good assets go public via SPAC, [they] will still perform according to their fundamental value.”
Shares of Helix Acquisition II currently trade at $10.25.