Monterey Bio Acquisition Corp. (MTRY) Sells Sponsor Shares and Rebrands
Monterey Bio Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:MTRY) announced in an 8-K this morning that its co-sponsors, NorthStar Bio Ventures and Chardan Monterey Investments, entered into a share transfer agreement and will rebrand the company.
As part of the agreement, NorthStar transferred 478,125 shares of MTRY to Chardan for a purchase price of $0.006 per share, which is equal to the initial purchase price it paid for its founder shares.
The co-sponsors then entered into agreements with three new directors of Monterey Bio to transfer an aggregate of 35,000 founder shares to each director. Each of the newly appointed officers and directors has agreed to vote all of their shares of common stock, including any founder shares, in favor of a business combination, and waived certain conversion rights with respect to their founder shares.
As a result, Monterey Bio will undergo a change in management. Sanjeev Satyal tendered his resignation as CEO and will be replaced by Murat Omur, who brings 15 years of investment banking experience in the healthcare M&A space. Mr. Omur serves as Managing Director of Healthcare Investment Banking and Principal Investments at Chardan Capital Markets. Prior to joining Chardan, Mr. Omur was an Executive Director in Healthcare Investment Banking at Nomura Securities.
Additionally, William McKeever stepped down as CFO and director and is to be replaced by Sean McGann, who also brings over 15 years of investment banking and strategy experience. Mr. McGann is a Managing Director in the Principal Investments Group for Chardan Capital Markets, a position he has held since 2020. Previously, Mr. McGann was at Citigroup where he was the Director of Product Strategy for the Corporate and Investment Bank and served as an Investment Banker covering clients in the Financial Technology and Asset Management sectors.
Chris Coleman, Jory Des Jardins and Roderick Hardamon, were appointed as directors. Mr. Hardamon and Mr. Coleman were appointed to the audit committee of the company, and Mr. Hardamon was also designated as the “audit committee financial expert.” Jonas Grossman was appointed as Executive Chairman.
The SPAC announced the pricing of its $100 million IPO in September 2021 but has not yet found a target to combine with. It intends to partner with a biotech company, specifically within the oncology or immunology sector, that has demonstrated success and is primed to thrive in the rapidly evolving biotech industry.
By implementing these new key additions to the board of directors and management team, Monterey hopes to expand its acquisition strategy to include a broader universe of disruptive technology targets.