Deerfield Management and ARCH Venture Partners have partnered with venture capital firm Section 32 to sponsor DA32 Life Science Tech Acquisition Corp, a blank check company that is today priced for $200 million in an initial public offering (IPO). The company has listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “DALS.”
The pricing of the IPO comprised the offering of 20 million Class A common stock shares at $10.00 per share. Steven Kafka, Ph.D., managing partner for Section 32, has been named Chief Executive Officer and Director of DA32. Deerfield partner Dr. Andrew ElBardissi and ARCH co-founder and managing director Keith Crandell have been appointed directors to represent the sponsors in the deal.
Newly formed blank check company DA32 was “incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses,” according to a statement on the IPO.
Axios first broke in the news of the possible special acquisition company back in June. Currently, the company has already appointed a team of experienced executives, board of directors, and strategic advisors who will be intimately involved in the investment, scaling, and commercialization of various “life sciences tools, diagnostics, and data and analytics platforms to improve human health.”
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The company notes it may pursue if a business combination target in any industry but intends to focus primarily on important opportunities in the life science technology sector, given the complementary strengths and experiences of its executive team.
Joint book-running managers of the IPO include J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Cowen and Company, LLC. DA32 has provided a 450-day option to underwriters to buy an additional three million shares of Class A common stock at the recent IPO price in an effort to cover any over-allotments.
Several other biopharmaceutical and biotech companies announced the pricing of their own IPOs this week, including late clinical-stage company Candel Therapeutics. The Massachusetts-based biopharmaceutical company priced its IPO of 9 million common stock shares at a public offering price of $8.00 per share.
Gross proceeds for Candel, before deductions of underwriting discounts and commissions, should reach $72 million. Joint bookrunner managers for the offering include Jefferies, Credit Suisse, BMO Capital Markets, and UBS Investment Bank.
California-based Caribou Biosciences, a clinical-stage CRISPR genome-editing company, also recently announced its closing of its IPO of 19 million common stock shares at $16 per share. Aggregate gross proceeds of the offering are expected to reach $304 million, at least before the deduction of underwriting discounts and commissions. Joint book-running managers of the deal include BofA Securities, Citigroup, and SVB Leerink. Caribou will begin trading shares on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “CRBU.”
Data-pooling and knowledge-sharing company SOPHiA GENETICS also recently announced closing an IPO worth $234 million. The company closed its IPO of 13 million ordinary shares at $18 per share. Joint book-running managers for the IPO were J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Cowen, and Credit Suisse. The company began trading its ordinary shares on the Nasdaq under “SOPH.”
Source: Biospace
