Palihapitiya-backed SPAC to take ProKidney public in over $2 bln deal (updated)

Prokidney

18/01/2022 12:24

(Adds details on deal)
    Jan 18 (Reuters) - Biotech ProKidney LP said on Tuesday it
would go public by merging a blank-check firm backed by veteran
dealmaker Chamath Palihapitiya in a deal that values the
combined company at $2.64 billion.
    The deal with Social Capital Suvretta Holdings Corp. III
 DNAC.O  includes a private investment in public equity, or
PIPE, of $575 million. 
    Investors in the PIPE include Social Capital, Suvretta
Capital's healthcare-focused fund Averill and ProKidney's
existing shareholders.
    The gross proceeds from the deal also include the $250
million the blank-check firm raised through an initial public
offering (IPO) in July.
    ProKidney focuses on the treatment of chronic kidney
diseases with technology that it says has the potential to
restore the organ's function by using the patient's own kidney
cells.
    The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this
year, after which the combined company will be listed on the
Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "PROK". 

 (Reporting by Niket Nishant and Sohini Podder in Bengaluru;
Editing by Aditya Soni)
 ((Niket.Nishant@thomsonreuters.com;))