Latham & Watkins Advises Ligand Pharmaceuticals and OmniAb in Completion of Spin-Off and Business Combination

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: LGND) has announced the completion of the expected tax-free distribution of its OmniAb antibody discovery business and the subsequent business combination with Avista Public Acquisition Corp. II (NASDAQ: AHPA), resulting in OmniAb, Inc. becoming an independent publicly traded company. Regular-way trading in OmniAb stock is expected to begin on Nasdaq under the stock ticker symbol “OABI” tomorrow, November 2, 2022.

Latham & Watkins LLP represents Ligand and OmniAb in the transaction with a corporate deal team led by San Diego partner Matt Bush and Orange County partner Scott Shean, with San Diego associates Nadia Patiño, Briana Goncalves, and Emilie McConnachie, Orange County associates Brian Umanoff, Peter Bassine, and Jack McKay, and Houston associate Ben Marek. Advice was also provided on benefits and compensation matters by San Diego partner Holly Bauer, with Los Angeles associate Rachel Narowski and Orange County associate Sara Schlau; on tax matters by Century City partner Pardis Zomorodi and Houston partner Jared Grimley, with Houston associate Dominick Constantino; on securities law matters by Washington, D.C. partners Alex Cohen, Paul Dudek, and Joel Trotter; on intellectual property matters by San Diego partner Steve Chinowsky, with San Diego associates Robert Yeh and Kristina Funahashi; on FDA regulatory matters by Washington, D.C. partner Elizabeth Richards and Bay Area counsel Betty Pang, with Washington, D.C. associate Chad Jennings; on data privacy and security matters by Bay Area partner Heather Deixler; and on antitrust matters by Washington, D.C. partner Jason Cruise and Washington, D.C. counsel Patrick English.