Perceptive Advisors is the latest hedge fund firm launching a new blank-check company.
The firm, which specializes in health care funds, filed plans with regulators to take ARYA Sciences Acquisition Corp II public.
The vehicle, also called a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, was created to do a deal in the healthcare or related industries. In a regulatory filing, it said it will target North American or European companies in the life sciences and medical technology sectors, “where our management has extensive investment experience.”
Perceptive, led by Joseph Edelman, is the sponsor. Edelman serves as chairman. Perceptive chief executive officer Adam Stone is the CEO, while Perceptive chief financial officer is ARYA’s CFO.
Perceptive did not respond to a request to comment.
This is the second SPAC created by Perceptive under the ARYA name. ARYA Sciences Acquisition Corp. priced its IPO in October 2018.
In March 2020, it agreed to merge with Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company seeking the discovery and development of T cell-redirecting cancer immunotherapies.
The deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter, when the shares will trade under the name Immatics N.V., according to a regulatory filing. Stone is expected to serve on the supervisory board of Immatics N.V., according to the filing.
Blank-check companies have become very popular in recent years, especially this year.
They have no assets. In most deals, the sponsor sells shares for $10 apiece and then has a self-imposed time limit of two years to complete a merger, acquisition, or some other deal. The acquired business then becomes the publicly-traded company.
Earlier this month, Institutional Investor reported that Longview Acquisition Corporation, a blank-check company sponsored by Larry Robbins’ Glenview Capital, filed plans to go public.
Earlier this year two other SPACs sponsored by hedge funds announced deals: Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation, sponsored by Jason Mudrick’s Mudrick Capital Management, and Far Point Acquisition Corporation, a SPAC co-sponsored by Dan Loeb’s Third Point and former NYSE president Thomas Farley.
This is Perceptive’s second attempt to raise money in 2020. Earlier this year, Institutional Investor reported that Perceptive raised $750 million for its third credit fund, Perceptive Credit Opportunities Fund III.
Perceptive currently manages more than $4.2 billion, according to its website. It is best known for its hedge fund, Perceptive Life Sciences Offshore.
So far this year, it is down a little more than 5 percent through May 15, according to a document from investment bank HSBC that tracks hedge fund returns.
The fund posted a 53.7 percent gain in 2019, its best year since the life science fund’s first full operating year in 2000.
It also posted gains exceeding 40 percent in 2017 and 2015.
