Tidjane Thiam's spac is in talks to merge with a life sciences company aiming to prolong life and founded by a pioneering scientist.
Former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam is using his Freedom Acquisition Corp special purpose acquisition company (Spac) to make a bid for life sciences company HLI which offers tests to fight age-related diseases, the «Financial Times» (behind paywall) reported Tuesday.
Thiam's firm is in advanced talks with Human Longevity Inc. (HLI) to merge the two firms, the «FT» said. Craig Venter was the scientist involved in the first sequencing of the human genome and established HLI in 2013.
Prolonging Life
HLI offers clients the mapping of their genomes, full body MRIs as well as blood tests aimed at flighting diseases related to the aging process. Costs for the services range from $7,500 to $19,000, according to the «Financial Times.»
Freedom Acquisition turned its interest toward HLIA after a failed merger attempt between Thiam's firm and a Mexican fintech Credijusto, which U.S. bond firm Pimco rejected, saying the fintech was overvalued.
Should the current merger plans go ahead, the combination of Thiam's $345 million Freedom Acquisition and HLI would have a valuation of around $1 billion, according to the news outlet.
How a Spac Works
A Spac, also referred to as a blank check company, is a shell corporation which lists on an exchange. The company has no specific target and will use its capital to seek out a private company which it can acquire or merge with. Should that transpire, the company can be taken public through a reverse merger.
HLI has another high-profile co-founder in Peter Diamandis who is the founder of the «XPrize» foundation. It has raised $500 million since its creation.
