The spectacular SPAC headwinds are not stopping Genesis Unicorn Capital from entering the fray. The blank check company, formed 12 months ago, has followed through with its initial public offering in a downsized debut on Tuesday.
Genesis Unicorn landed on Wall Street with a $75 million IPO, which was $25 million short of the sponsor’s initial goal set forth in the draft registration nine months ago.
The SPAC will begin searching for a biotech or pharma company with a total enterprise value between $200 million and $1 billion. The most recent biotech SPAC tie-up, psychedelic-based drug developer Eleusis, notched a sticker price within that range, at $446 million last month.
The SPAC will merge with a company anywhere other than China, Genesis Unicorn said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Apparently the Princeton, New Jersey SPAC has not read the room. The shell company will have an uphill battle to weather as the biotech stock market has cooled dramatically in recent quarters and blank checks have experienced difficulty finding targets that satisfy their appetite.
Genesis Unicorn’s Nasdaq entrance comes just weeks after HeartFlow halted its blank check deal because of “unfavorable market conditions.” The heart disease diagnostics company inked a deal with Longview Acquisition Corp. II in July 2021.
The SPAC’s President and Chief Financial Officer Samuel Lui, a managing director of crossover investor LV Capital, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals and Tonix Pharmaceuticals Board Member Adeoye Olukotun, M.D., is CEO of the SPAC. He has previously been chief executive of Epigen Pharmaceuticals from 2014 to 2017, vice chair of CardioVax and chief medical officer of VIA Pharmaceuticals.
Leading the science operations is Chief Scientific Officer Niel Starksen, M.D., who is cofounder of remote patient monitoring solutions provider Vivalink Medical, and before that was CEO of Ancora Heart from 2002 to 2015.