Ex-US Com­merce Sec­re­tary Wilbur Ross pairs his SPAC with Alzheimer's biotech

Wait­ing un­til the very last minute, for­mer US Com­merce Sec­re­tary Wilbur Ross’ spe­cial pur­pose ac­qui­si­tion com­pa­ny has found a busi­ness to buy: a biotech al­lied with Bio­gen on di­ag­nos­ing Alzheimer’s dis­ease.

Com­ing to­geth­er are Cam­bridge, MA biotech Apri­noia Ther­a­peu­tics and ROSS Ac­qui­si­tion Corp. II, with about $280 mil­lion of ROSS stock go­ing to­ward the di­ag­nos­tics and drug de­vel­op­er. Ross will give $7.5 mil­lion of his own mon­ey through a con­vert­ible note and up to $12.5 mil­lion at the time of clos­ing, which is ex­pect­ed in the first half of this year, the com­pa­nies said Wednes­day.

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