Transaction Case Studies

Situation Assessment

Locust Walk Acquisition Corp. (LWAC) raised $175M as a SPAC with the intent to merge with a suitable biopharmaceutical company with a certain pre-determined criteria
Locust Walk served as the Manager for the SPAC and deal execution support for the management and board
eFFECTOR Therapeutics (NASDAQ: EFTR) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of selective translation regulator inhibitors (STRIs) as a novel class of oncology drugs
EFTR sought to merge with a SPAC and raise capital to fund its clinical development programs

Key Activities

Locust Walk performed a comprehensive strategy project to identify the right criteria for a potential merger target
Key baseline and superlative criteria were established prior to IPO to guide the company selection process
As M&A advisor, evaluated > 90 prospective target companies as merger candidates for LWAC
Performed deep dive due diligence on 6 companies
Ran a full valuation and associated analytics plus a sell-deck for 2 target companies
Co-led the negotiation for the letter of intent (LOI) and supported definitive merger agreement negotiations
As a Placement Agent, Locust Walk drove an efficient capital raise process
Provided material feedback on EFTR management presentation in preparation for investor conversations
Conducted targeted outreach campaign to top-tier life-science focused PIPE investors
Provided extensive guidance on deal dynamics and worked in collaboration with banking syndicate and legal teams to drive financing to close

Successful Outcome

From SPAC IPO until EFTR merger announcement, rapidly drove towards a transaction parallel processing multiple opportunities
LWAC IPO: January 8, 2021
LOI with EFTR signed: March 29, 2021
Merger and PIPE announced: May 26, 2021
De-SPAC + PIPE closed: August 25, 2021
Successfully advised LWAC on its $340M acquisition of EFTR
Served as PIPE placement agent raising a $60.7M PIPE financing in under 2 months