ALSP ORCHID ACQUISITION CORPORATION I CLOSES US$172.5 MILLION IPO

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- ALSP Orchid Acquisition Corporation I (the Company or ALSP Orchid) announced closing its initial public offering of 17,250,000 units, including 2,250,000 units issued pursuant to the full exercise by the underwriters of their over-allotment option, at a price of US$10.00 per unit. (US$1 = RM4.199)

The units are listed on the Nasdaq Global Market (Nasdaq) and began trading under the ticker symbol ALORU on Nov 19, according to a statement.

Each unit consists of one Class A ordinary share and one-half of one redeemable warrant, with each whole warrant exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of US$11.50 per share.

After the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, the Class A ordinary shares and warrants are expected to be listed on Nasdaq under the symbols ALOR and ALORW, respectively.

ALSP Orchid is a newly organised blank check company formed by Accelerator Life Science Partners for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganisation or similar business combination with one or more businesses.

While the Company may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business, industry, sector or geographical location, it intends to pursue investments in North America and Singapore with an emphasis on life science companies developing assets and next-generation platform technologies with broad applicability.

ALSP Orchid is led by CEO Thong Q. Le, CFO Ian A.W. Howes, COO Andras T. Forgacs, CBO Kevin T. Chow, Ph.D., and CDO Kendall M. Mohler, PhD.

The Company's independent board of directors is led by Board Chairman Bruce L.A. Carter, Ph.D. and includes Mark W. Hahn, Sundar R. Kodiyalam, Stephanie Read, and Eugene W. Yeo, Ph.D. The Company’s advisory board includes Philip Yeo Liat Kok, Ph.D. and Randall C. Schatzman, Ph.D.

Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated and Nomura Securities International, Inc. acted as joint book-running managers of the offering.

A registration statement relating to these securities was declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Nov 18. The offering is made only by means of a prospectus.

-- BERNAMA