Bain execs Adam Koppel and Jeffrey Schwartz line up $125M for their first blank check deal as Wall Street continues to embrace biotech

Adam Koppel and Jeffrey Schwartz have jumped into the blank check game, raising $125 million for a stock listing in search of a company.

Their SPAC, BCLS Acquisition Corp, raised $125 million this week, with a line on $25 million more as it scouts for a biotech in search of money and a place on Wall Street.

The two principals at Bain Life Sciences have been on a romp since they set up the Bain operation 4 years ago. Their S-1 spells out a track record of 22 deals totaling $650 million for the life sciences group, which led to 9 IPOs.

Their business is biotech investing, with an eye to a wide range of deals, and business is good.

Biotech IPOs in general and SPACs in particular have been hot commodities since the pandemic hit. The industry had to pause to reevaluate work, but most companies have prioritized and got back into the lab. And the money has been flowing faster than ever — for now — as institutional investors look for the next big thing in drugs. And longtime players like David Hung have seen the advantages of a quick flip onto Wall Street through the blank check gambit.

Now some of the best-connected investors in biopharma, Koppel and Schwartz have lined themselves up with some prominent execs for the BCLS board. They include Alnylam vet Barry Greene, Allene Diaz out of Tesaro and Vikas Sinha, a co-founder at Elevate Bio.

We’ll see now who they can help usher onto Wall Street — for a price.

Source: EndpointNews – Bain execs Adam Koppel and Jeffrey Schwartz line up $125M for their first blank check deal as Wall Street continues to embrace biotech