Biotech Acquisition Company (BIOT) Sells Sponsor Economics

Biotech Acquisition Company (NASDAQ:BIOT) announced in an 8-K that it has agreed to sell most of its sponsor economics and undergo a management change.

An investor registered as IREEM LLC is purchasing 5,455,000 of Biotech’s promote shares (94.8%) and all 6,000,000 of its private placement warrants for $470,000 in total.

The outgoing team featured experience at a variety of European biotech venture capital firms and is to be replaced by primarily US-focused officers. The SPAC has not yet announced a new name or focus, but its incoming team suggests it could go in a number of different directions.

Laxmi Prasad Palaypu is to serve as CEO and chairman and also chairs New York-based boutique investment firm Interups (OTC:ITUP). Incoming CFO Jon Paul specializes in cannabis industry growth initiatives out of Las Vegas, Nevada. The SPAC’s new Board, meanwhile, features members ranging in experience from pharmaceutical research to steel production and municipal services.

Interups also specializes in deploying funds from Indian wealth management and retirement accounts into REIT and InvIT structures, but this may not be a hint at where the SPAC will look.

The new team’s first task will be getting as much of the SPAC’s estimated $232 million in trust through an extension vote. Biotech’s original transaction deadline is coming up on January 27, 2023 and it has already filed a pre-proxy for a vote without setting a date.

This proxy outlined a 10-month extension to October 27, 2023, and did not include a finalized amount for any proposed contribution to trust.