Gene&Cell Therapy >> Return of the SPAC? Bihua Chen and Cormorant go for round
two after MoonLake success: Blank check companies are largely dead and gone, but Bihua Chen and her life sciences investment firm Cormorant are back with a second special purpose acquisition company after successfully combining their first with MoonLake Immunotherapeutics.
Chen and Cormorant filed for a $100 million initial public offering for their SPAC, named Helix Acquisition Corp. II, on Thursday night. It plans to list on the Nasdaq as $HLXB and raise as much as $115 million if underwriters exercise their over-allotment option.
If the IPO is successful, that would equate to the same size as the group’s first go-around in October 2020. Helix I merged with clinical-stage inflammatory disease biotech MoonLake in April 2022, which has since gone on to compete with Acelyrin and other biotechs in developing a treatment for hidradenitis suppurativa and other indications.
Chen founded Cormorant in 2013 and has invested in more than 100 life sciences startups, more than 50 of which have done initial public offerings. Some of the highlights included $4 billion or greater buyouts for Turning Point Therapeutics, MyoKardia and Prometheus Biosciences. Mark McKenna, who led TL1A biotech Prometheus to a $10.8 billion exit from Merck last year, is a director nominee for the new SPAC. He’s also chair of Apogee Therapeutics, which went through an IPO last July.
Mark McKenna
SPACs were all the rage in the early days of the pandemic as an alternative way for biotechs, electric vehicle makers and companies in other industries to get onto the public market. But they largely fell out of favor after 2021, when SPAC mergers hit a peak of 49 in biopharma, per a Stifel report earlier this month citing data from DealForma. Multiple SPACs have liquidated or reneged on business agreements since then, but a few have followed through, like gene therapy maker enGene last November.
In its S-1, Helix II’s leadership said now is a good time for such a financing vehicle as the IPO markets cooled for the biotech industry in 2022 and 2023, although signs of life are returning with six drug developers in the IPO queue so far this year.
“This market environment not only creates good hunting grounds for Helix II, but also augments the unique value proposition a special purpose acquisition company offers to a potential target company,” the SPAC said in its filing. “An alternative path to the public markets and a defined investor base, attractive offerings even in the best of market conditions, become exceptionally compelling in our environment today.”
Helix II plans to find a therapeutics maker, diagnostics startup or medical device company to merge with, according to its SEC paperwork.
Chen is the SPAC’s chair and CEO. Her management team includes chief financial officer Caleb… #lucidquest #genetherapy #celltherapy
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1moMichael Goguen I’d love to sync up at some point and learn more about the portfolio.