On March 17, 2020 Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH ("Immatics" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company active in the discovery and development of T cell redirecting cancer immunotherapies, reported it has entered into a definitive business combination agreement with Arya Sciences Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: ARYA) ("Arya"), a special purpose acquisition company, sponsored by Perceptive Advisors (Press release, Immatics Biotechnologies, MAR 17, 2020, View Source [SID1234555656]).

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In addition to the funds held in Arya’s trust account, a group of leading US healthcare investors has committed to participate in the transaction through a ~$104 million common stock PIPE. Investors in the PIPE include Perceptive Advisors, Redmile Group, Federated Hermes Kaufmann Funds, RTW Investments, Sphera Funds, and an additional healthcare focused investor, as well as current existing Company shareholders including dievini Hopp BioTech, AT Impf and Wellington Partners.

Immatics will receive gross proceeds of up to $252 million at the closing of the transaction and will continue to operate under the Immatics management team headed by Chief Executive Officer Harpreet Singh, Ph.D. The respective boards of directors of both Arya and Immatics have approved the proposed transaction. Completion of the transaction, which is expected in the second quarter of 2020, is subject to approval of Arya’s and Immatics’ shareholders and the satisfaction of certain other customary closing conditions.

Adam Stone, Chief Investment Officer of Perceptive Advisors and CEO of Arya, stated: "Immatics has established a leadership position in the rapidly evolving area of T cell receptor (TCR) based cell therapies. Immatics’ TCR-based drug candidates are designed to disrupt the current solid tumor treatment paradigm and open new avenues for cancer patients." Adam Stone further commented: "Our goal when we formed Arya was to identify a unique company with disruptive potential. Immatics’ expertise in identifying cancer targets and developing the right TCRs for immunotherapies, provided exactly that opportunity for this investment vehicle. We look forward to working closely with the Immatics’ team and are excited about the potential their technologies represent – to both patients and investors."

Harpreet Singh, Ph.D., Co-Founder and CEO of Immatics commented: "We greatly value the commitment from Perceptive Advisors and other top-tier investors who are participating in this transaction, as well as our existing investors who have supported the development of Immatics to date. We believe this business combination with Arya represents a unique opportunity to transition our company onto a global stage. Access to the US capital markets will be critical to our ability to fuel our development plans and to advance Immatics’ innovative immunotherapies through the clinic as part of our mission to improve treatment options for cancer patients."

Immatics leverages advanced technologies and biologic insight to identify otherwise inaccessible and intracellular drug targets as a basis for a broad range of cancer immunotherapies designed to overcome the current limitations in immuno-oncology. The company is actively using these targets to develop novel T cell receptors to enable a robust and specific T-cell response against cancer cells. The Company has two distinct product classes, Adoptive Cell Therapies (ACT) and TCR Bispecifics, and is advancing product candidates in both classes in the Company’s proprietary pipeline with several clinical-stage ACT lead products. Additionally, the Company has several large-scale collaborations with global leaders in the pharmaceutical industry.

Summary of Transaction
Arya raised $143.75 million in its IPO which is now (together with interest thereon) held in a trust account. Under the terms of the proposed transaction, Immatics´ equity value contribution into the proposed business combination will amount to approximately $350 million. Accordingly, Immatics´ shareholders will receive 35 million shares of the newly established Immatics N.V. in exchange for their existing Immatics shares, as contemplated by the terms of the business combination agreement. Current shareholders of Arya will also become shareholders of Immatics N.V. and will exchange their ordinary shares and warrants of Arya for ordinary shares and warrants of Immatics N.V. on a one for one basis. Existing Immatics shareholders and management are retaining 100% of their equity. Assuming that no Arya shareholders elect to redeem their shares and participation by all Immatics shareholders participate in the transaction, it is estimated that the current shareholders of Immatics will own approximately 61% of the issued and outstanding shares in the combined company at closing. Assuming that no Arya shareholders elect to redeem their shares and participation by all Immatics shareholders in the transaction, the combined company will have an initial market capitalization of approximately $634 million. Upon closing, it is expected that Immatics N.V. will be publicly traded on Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbol IMTX.

Additional information about the transaction will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K that will contain an investor presentation to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and will be available at www.sec.gov. In addition, Immatics N.V. intends to file a registration statement on Form F-4 with the SEC, which will include a proxy statement/prospectus of Arya, and will file other documents regarding the proposed transaction with the SEC.

Advisors
Goldman Sachs International is acting as lead financial advisor with BofA Securities, SVB Leerink and Kempen serving as financial advisors to Immatics. Jefferies LLC is acting as financial and capital markets advisor to Arya as well as sole private placement agent. Chardan Capital Markets LLC is also serving as advisor to Arya. Goodwin Procter LLP and CMS are acting as legal counsel to Immatics. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal counsel to Arya.