Perceptive Advisors’ ARYA Sciences Acquisition IV Raises $130 Million in IPO

Perceptive Advisors’ fourth healthcare blank check company ARYA Sciences Acquisition IV announced it has raised up to $130 million through the offering of 13 million shares at $10. ARYA Sciences says it may seek to raise another $25 million at an acquisition closing following the sponsor’s forward purchase agreement.

Lead managers on the deal include Goldman Sachs and Jefferies. Company Chairman Joseph Edelman, who is also Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Perceptive Advisors, leads the new initiative, while Perceptive Advisors’ Chief Investment Officer Adam Stone is named CEO and Director. The initial public offering deal is also handled by Chief Financial Officer and Director Michael Altman, who also serves as Managing Director at Perceptive Advisors.

This team’s prior Special-Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), ARYA Sciences Acquisition III, went public back in August 2020. Currently, ARYA Sciences Acquisition III has a pending merger contract agreement with Nautilus Biotechnology.

Also, the team’s other SPAC, ARYA Sciences Acquisition II, completed an acquisition in October 2020 of Pfizer spinoff Cerevel Therapeutics. The merger transaction resulted in net proceeds of up to $440 million and saw Boston-based Cerevel launching as a publicly traded neuroscience company. Overall, Cerevel received approximately $467 million as a result of the business combination.

“We believe Cerevel is positioned to open new frontiers in neuroscience, making it precisely the type of opportunity that Arya II was designed to combine with,” said Stone in the merger announcement. “We are excited about the potential in the Cerevel pipeline – for both patients and investors. We look forward to partnering with Tony and his team as they advance their pipeline of differentiated neuroscience assets.”

Earlier this month, Seattle-based Nautilus Biotechnology merged with Arya Sciences Acquisition III, which saw Nautilus receiving $350 million in cash and a $900 million valuation.

ARYA Sciences Acquisition, another prior SPAC, completed an acquisition in July 2020 of Immatics Biotechnologies. The announcement of this business combination was made in March 2020. The merger gave Immatics approximately $148 million in cash, which is held within Arya’s trust account, as well as gross proceeds of up to $252 million at transaction closing.

Funding for Immatics is helping propel the company forward in further research and development into the company’s T cell receptor (TCR) based cell therapies. “Immatics has established a leadership position in the rapidly evolving area of TCR based cell therapies,” said Stone at the time of the merger announcement. “Immatics’ TCR-based drug candidates are designed to disrupt the current solid tumor treatment paradigm and open new avenues for cancer patients.”

“Our goal when we formed Arya was to identify a unique company with disruptive potential,” added Stone. “Immatics’ expertise in identifying cancer targets and developing the right TCRs for immunotherapies, provided exactly that opportunity for this investment vehicle. We look forward to working closely with the Immatics’ team and are excited about the potential their technologies represent – to both patients and investors.”

The new ARYA Sciences Acquisition IV SPAC is focused primarily on the healthcare industry and has plans to direct a specific focus on life sciences and medical technology companies in North America and Europe.

In the announcement of the IPO, ARYA Sciences Acquisition IV says it will list under the symbol ARYD on the Nasdaq.