Look­ing to push CAR-T in sol­id tu­mors, Bay Area biotech goes pub­lic in SPAC flip — with slight name change

SPACs might be slow­ly creep­ing back.

Mon­day evening, Es­trel­la Bio­phar­ma said it was go­ing pub­lic via a SPAC deal with Trade­UP Ac­qui­si­tion Corp. The deal is set to close in the first half of 2023, and if all goes as planned, the pub­lic ver­sion of Es­trel­la — dubbed Es­trel­la Im­munophar­ma — will be worth around $398.5 mil­lion.

The Bay Area biotech will al­so get around $45.4 mil­lion in cash, and Trade­Up stock­hold­ers will get around 15% stock in the pub­lic biotech.

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