Brief: Alexandria REIT to form $313m agrifoodtech SPAC

• Alexandria Agtech/Climate Innovation Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) formed by US real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, has filed with the US Securities & Exchange Commission to raise up to $250 million in an IPO.
• The Pasadena-based SPAC will aim to acquire technologies and privately held businesses in the agritech and climate change mitigation sectors.
• It plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AACE, and says it will offer 25 million units at $10 apiece consisting of one share of common stock and one-fourth of a warrant exercisable at $11.50. It would be valued at $313 million under the proposed deal terms.

Why it matters:

Alexandria Real Estate Equities invests in US office buildings and laboratories that it leases to digital tech and life sciences companies. Its tenants include the likes of Novartis, Facebook, Eli Lilly, and Uber. It also invests in life sciences businesses through its VC arm, Alexandria Venture Investments.

What the SPAC?! A brief explainer on the next exit tool for agrifoodtech investors – read it here

SPACs — which provide an alternate route for companies to go public by ‘reverse merger’ — experienced tremendous growth last year, with the SPAC IPO count going from one in 2009 to 248 in 2020, according to spacinsider.com. More than $83 billion was invested in SPACs in 2020, compared to $13.6 billion the previous year, according to Dealogic.

Last month, US indoor farming startup AppHarvest went public at a valuation of over $1 billion after its $475 million acquisition by SPAC Novus Capital Corp.