SomaLogic to merge with Keith Meister-backed SPAC in $1.23 bln deal (updated)

Inflection Point Acquisition VII

29/03/2021 12:21

(Adds details from statement)
    March 29 (Reuters) - SomaLogic Inc said on Monday it will
merge with activist investor Keith Meister-backed special
purpose acquisition company in a deal that values the protein
analysis company at $1.23 billion.
    The deal with CM Life Sciences II Inc  CMIIU.O  will fetch
SomaLogic $651 million. The proceeds will include a private
investment of $375 million from SoftBank Group Corp's  9984.T 
subsidiary SB Management and accounts advised by Cathies Wood's
Ark Invest, among others.
    CM Life Sciences is sponsored by an affiliate of Meister's
Corvex Management LP and investor Eli Casdin's Casdin Capital. 
    Meister was the principal executive officer at Carl Icahn's
business holding company, Icahn Enterprises LP  IEP.N , from
2003 to 2010 and once viewed as the billionaire activist
investor's right-hand man.  
    Another SPAC backed by the Meister and Casdin duo agreed to
take digital healthcare company Sema4 public in February.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nBw5HyNqa
    SPACs have no business operations but list on exchanges so
as to use the capital from an IPO to buy a private firm, thereby
taking it public. 
    CM Life Sciences II went public in a $276 million IPO in
February this year. Its prospectus showed it intended to merge
with a company in the life sciences sector.
    Boulder, Colorado-headquartered SomaLogic was founded in
2000 and focuses on the study of proteins. It offers tests that
can help diagnose diseases with a single sample of blood, its
website showed.

 (Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini
Ganguli)
 ((Niket.Nishant@thomsonreuters.com;))