University of Tübingen’s immuno-oncology spinout Immatics has undertaken a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company Arya Sciences to list in the US.
Immatics, a Germany-based cancer immunotherapies developer spun out of University of Tübingen, has executed a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company Arya Sciences Acquisition to list on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
Shares opened at $15.05 on Thursday but have continued to drop and closed at $14.40 yesterday, giving Immatics a market cap of $5.64bn. It is trading under the ticker symbol IMTX.
Proceeds from the transaction amounted to approximately $253m, consisting of $149m held in Arya’s trust account and a $104m private investment in public equity (Pipe) deal.
Perceptive Advisors had sponsored Arya and also contributed to the Pipe deal, whose consortium further included Redmile Group, Federated Hermes Kaufmann Funds, RTW Investments, Sphera Funds, Dievini Hopp BioTech, AT Impf and Wellington Partners.
Founded in 2000, Immatics is working on immunotherapies aimed at cancers, particularly solid tumours, considered difficult to treat.
The technology, XPresident, exploits work at Tübingen’s Department of Immunology, and additional research at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Immatics and MD Anderson Cancer Center set up a US subsidiary with $40m in funding in 2015.
Immatics signed a strategic partnership agreement to co-develop several cell therapies with pharmaceutical firm Celgene in August 2019, worth up to $1.5bn and netting the spinout a $75m upfront payment.
Pharmaceutical firm Amgen took part in a $58m series E round in October 2017, investing alongside Dievini Hopp Biotech, Wellington Partners, AT Impf and unnamed existing backers.
Amgen and Immatics had previously inked a collaboration deal earlier in 2017 that included a $30m upfront payment and potentially more than $1bn in milestone payments and royalties.
Immatics closed a $46m series D round in 2014 backed by Dievini Hopp Biotech, Wellington Partners, AT Impf and funds advised by MIG.
Immatics collected $75m in series C funding in 2010 backed by Mona Lisa Fund, whose sole limited partner is telecommunications firm Swisscom, as well as Dievini Hopp Biotech and Wellington Partners.
Wellington Partners, 3i, DH Capital, OH Beteiligungen, National Technology Enterprises Company and KfW participated in a $52.1m series B round in 2004.
Wellington and 3i had already taken part in a $18m series A round in 2004 together with Grazia Equity, L-EA/Seed and Merifin Capital.
