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(Adds BenevolentAI comment)
By Emma-Victoria Farr and Paul Sandle
LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Amsterdam-listed Odyssey has
agreed to buy BenevolentAI in a deal valuing the British-based
pharmaceuticals firm at up to 1.5 billion euros after the
transaction, the biggest acquisition by a European special
purpose acquisition vehicle (SPACs) to date.
Odyssey, a 300 million euro ($338 million) SPAC backed by
the founders of M&A advisory Zaoui & Co and the former head of
Natixis Investment Managers, will raise an additional 135
million euros to pay for the deal and cover transaction fees.
Net transaction proceeds from the deal are up to 390 million
euros and the money is being raised from investors including
Singapore's Temasek and drugmaker AstraZeneca.
In a statement, the companies said their deal represents the
largest European SPAC merger to date and one of Amsterdam's
biggest biotech listings.
Several SPACs have listed in Amsterdam, potentially boosting
the Dutch financial capital's credentials as a hub for
fast-growing companies. London has only hosted one major SPAC in
2021, after updating its rules to make them easier.
Blank cheque vehicles allow companies to obtain a market
listing without going through an initial public offering (IPO).
BenevolentAI's Chief Executive Joanna Shields said it had
developed an artificial intelligence (AI) platform that allowed
it to understand the underlying causes of a disease and increase
the probability that a candidate drug will succeed.
With more than 20 programmes in its portfolio, BenevolentAI
needed capital to scale its pipeline, she said. It had been
considering a crossover fund raise later this year and a listing
next year, before the opportunity offered by Odyssey.
"There was a real synergy between the teams," she said.
"It's a fast route to a large pool of capital."
Olivier Brandicourt, former Sanofi CEO, and Jean Raby,
former CEO of Natixis, will join BenevolentAI's board.
($1 = 0.8855 euros)
(Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr, Abhinav Ramnarayan and Paul
Sandle; Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Alexander Smith)
