Special acquisition companies (SPACs), have become a major influence in modern markets, especially in the last few years. In fact, 70% of all SPACs were formed in 2021 alone, raising a combined $162.5 billion in capital.
Sometimes referred to as “blank check” companies, SPACs are typically formed for one of two purposes. The first is as an alternative to the traditional initial public offering (IPO). Here, A shell company is formed — the SPAC — and listed on a stock exchange like the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. That company then purchases a specific private firm, effectively making that firm a publicly traded company.
This maneuver has gained much popularity in recent years and offers some major advantages, the most prominent being expediency. The process can happen in as little as a few months, whereas a traditional IPO can take upwards of a year.
Many SPACs, however, are not formed with a specific company as its target. These are formed with a more general purpose, to find lucrative companies to acquire. The SPAC manager has a set time limit to find acquisition opportunities that he must then bring to a shareholder vote.
SPACs have garnered some negative publicity in recent years, largely due to the fact that many of them have proven to be poor investments, not delivering the returns hoped for. There is hope, however, for the SPAC.
Take Aesther Healthcare Acquisition Corp. AEHA, for instance. The SPAC recently purchased the biomedical firm Ocean Biomedical Inc. The merged company is expected to be traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker OCEA or OCEAW and will be valued at approximately $345 million.
The merger will help fastrack potentially life-changing medical advancements, bringing them to market and into clinics and hospitals much sooner than Ocean would have otherwise been able to do so. And, critically for investors, the deal looks promising financially.
Ocean has recently made what seems to be a huge discovery, one that could hopefully lead to novel treatments that will save lives and net the company healthy profits.
The company discovered certain bispecific antibodies that are important inhibitors, killing glioblastoma (GBM) cells, melanoma cells and blocking the metastization of melanoma cells in the lungs by 90%. This has potentially huge implications in cancers as diverse as skin cancer and GBM, a brain cancer with an 8% survival rate. This may also help those with non-small cell lung cancer, an aggressive cancer affecting 450,000 patients.
The company already has exciting developments in battling other diseases as well that, if delivered upon, will help millions of people. Chief among these is malaria, one of the deadliest diseases globally – a disease that kills 500,000 children each year.
With these developments, Aesther seems to be changing the perception of SPACs. It is changing lives, potentially helping millions, and setting itself up to pull in healthy revenues, hopefully generating returns investors could be glad to be a part of.
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