Tale of two SPACs: One strikes a deal as turbulent market forces another to dissolve

18 Oct 2022
endpts.com
Acquisition
The SPAC market continued its rough year Monday, as one blank check company is set to move forward on a deal while another dissolved. Debuting last year, Sanaby Health came onto the scene during the SPAC boom with the usual buzzwords for its strategy, but it appears that it couldn’t hold on in the current ecosystem. The company announced that it intends to dissolve and liquidate by Wednesday. In a release, the company said, “that due to its inability to consummate an initial business combination within the period required by its Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation,” it had to begin the liquidation process. “Throughout this journey, we have maintained a disciplined approach that focused on identifying the best possible acquisition candidate to deliver long-term value to our shareholders,” said Sandra Shpilberg, Sanaby’s CEO in a statement . “We met with many innovative companies over the last 12 months; however, current market dynamics and lingering economic uncertainty convinced us that the best way to deliver on our promise to shareholders was to return the capital held in trust.” While one SPAC could not find a partner before the two-year limit, another one has managed to get a deal. Eduardo Bravo’s European Biotech Acquisition Corp (EBAC) has combined with the eye care biotech Oculis SA. Oculis will be renamed Oculis Holding SA, with the transaction including an upsized PIPE and an investment of around $80 million. The combination is expected to net Oculis over $200 million and is expected to close in the first half of next year. The private investment had participation from LSP 7, Earlybird, Novartis Venture Fund, Pivotal bioVenture Partners, funds managed by Tekla Capital Management, and VI Partners, among others. “EBAC was formed to invest in the untapped potential in the European biotechnology sector and has screened over 100 European biotechnology companies. Oculis is a prime example of what we set out to invest in, with great innovation, a well thought out strategy, and an experienced management team to bring promising therapies to market for patients suffering from eye disease,” Bravo said in a statement . Bravo, a former CEO of TiGenix, got his SPAC off the ground last year and was looking to raise $100 million and take a European biotech public within two years. For Oculis, the move comes as the company got a $57 million Series C last year to advance its lead drug candidate, OCS-01, into late-stage trials as well as push ahead another candidate, OCS-02. The OCS-01 candidate is a topical treatment for retinal diseases. While there is still a decent amount of uncertainty in the market, some companies are going down the SPAC route. Last month, Apollomics announced it was possibly getting up to $105 million in its SPAC deal with MaxPro Capital Acquisition with a value of $900 million. And Aesther Healthcare Acquisition also announced last month that it merged with Ocean Biomedical as it was under the gun to find a partner.
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