
Cerevel Therapeutics, a Boston neuroscience company spun out from Pfizer in 2018 and led by the well-known CEO Tony Coles, is going public.
The method of the public offering is somewhat unusual: Cerevel will raise roughly $445 million by merging with a public shell company launched by the hedge fund Perceptive Advisors in June — that shell company has already raised $130 million — and by raising a private investment from other investors to make up the rest of the amount.