Global investment manager Oaktree is out with its third life sciences-dedicated special purpose acquisition company after previously using blank checks to take public Hims & Hers and Alvotech in 2021 and 2022.
The $175 million blank-check company, called Oaktree Acquisition Corp. III Life Sciences, was unveiled Friday in an SEC filing.
Oaktree said it plans to take a North American or European life sciences company public with its latest SPAC. The firm will target biopharma, medical device, diagnostics and “specialized healthcare services sectors where our management has extensive investment experience,” according to the Friday night SEC paperwork.
SPACs had fallen out of favor in recent years after a deluge of blank-check combinations during the pandemic. But the alternative financing vehicle has recently made a slight comeback from experienced backers like Bihua Chen from Cormorant Asset Management.
Oaktree’s 11-person life sciences team has invested in 51 companies out of the nearly 800 businesses it has evaluated since 2013, according to the filing. The firm has committed about $5 billion through the end of August to those investments, and it disclosed a $2.3 billion lending fund in June 2023. About two-thirds of the investments are in biopharma.
“The industry’s already substantial financing needs should – like the global population’s median age – keep rising, which should create an ample opportunity set for increasing investment in the space,” Oaktree wrote in its prospectus.
Chairing the SPAC is Oaktree vice chair John Frank, who served on the boards of the firm’s SPACs that took telehealth company Hims and biosimilar maker Alvotech public. The SPAC’s CEO, Zaid Pardesi, was also involved in those two deals. He’s a managing director at Oaktree Capital.