Fertility services company NewGenIvf Limited announced its plan to go public via a SPAC acquisition valued at $50 million. The combined company will be renamed First Fertility Group Ltd. and be listed on the NASDAQ. This is one of many SPAC transactions in recent weeks as they seek to finalize deals before they are required to return funds to their investors.
NewGen provides services to patients in Southeast Asia, primarily in Thailand, Cambodia and Kyrgyzstan. “We expect that recent trends will lead to an increasing demand for fertility services,” according to the joint press release, “This makes it an ideal time for NewGen to go public, especially with lifted travel restrictions in a post-COVID world, which will allow us to assist families across Asia.”
“The fertility space has attracted tremendous attention in recent years, and we believe that NewGens potential will propel it into the limelight in the sector,” stated Claudius Tsang, CEO, CFO and Chairman of A SPAC I – and demographic trends support his optimism about the broader fertility space.
Fertility rates have dropped dramatically in recent decades, with the BBC describing it as a “Jaw-dropping global crash in children being born.” Virtually every country is expected to see declining populations by the end of this century, with 23 nations – including Japan, Italy, and Spain – expected to have their populations cut in half by 2100.
China, currently the world’s largest population, is projected to peak this decade at a population of $1.4 billion people, but crash to approximately half that amount by the end of this century. China had adopted a controversial “one child” policy in 1979 in an attempt to cut population and poverty, but that has led to a precipitous population decline ahead. Even though that policy was abandoned in 2015 and China is now even offering free fertility treatments, the country faces a “demographic crisis” that could lead to a “rapidly aging population and shrinking workforce [that] could threaten economic and social stability.”
While China presents a special case where policy has dramatically alternated demographics, other counties the world over are nevertheless experiencing sharp declines as women simply choose to have fewer children. With greater education and access to contraceptives, women have delayed starting families or decided against having children at all.
As women have delayed childbirth, it has led to increasing demand for fertility services. As Dr. Charles Coddington III of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and president of SART stated to NPR, “A lot of individuals — specifically women — are choosing to develop their careers, and they’re having great opportunities. So a lot of them are getting older before they have children, and they are needing more IVF services.” NewGen plans to provide for some of this increasing demand as a public company, offering services including comprehensive infertility and assisted reproductive technology treatments as well as surrogacy.
According to Matterhorn’s comprehensive M&A database, which harnesses AI to track current and historical deals, NewGen is represented by law firm Jun He Law Offices and financial adviser Arbor Lake Capital Inc. A SPAC I Acquisition Corp. is advised by Loeb & Loeb LLP, Haiwen & Partners, and Kalikova & Associates.