(Bloomberg) -- Alvotech Holdings SA, a company developing and manufacturing so-called biosimilar drugs, is going public in the U.S. through a merger with a blank-check firm backed by Oaktree Capital Management, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Iceland-based Alvotech will merge with Oaktree Acquisition Corp. II in a deal that values the combined company at about $2.25 billion including debt, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. 

The deal includes a $150 million equity placement led by investors such as Suvretta Capital, CVC Capital Partners and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte., the people said. 

Representatives for Alvotech and Oaktree Acquisition declined to comment.

Alvotech, founded by Chairman Robert Wessman, announced in November 2020 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency had accepted its application for an immune-suppressing drug similar to Humira, with a decision expected this year. The FDA later deferred action on the application, according to a statement in September. 

The company won dismissal in October of a trade-secrets lawsuit filed by Humira maker AbbVie Inc. in federal court in Chicago. Alvotech still faces a patent-infringement lawsuit brought by AbbVie.

Alvotech considered an initial public offering in Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported in 2018. It raised $300 million in a private convertible note offering at the time and committed to going public within three years.

Oaktree Acquisition raised $225 million in an initial public offering last year. The special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, is sponsored by an affiliate of Oaktree Capital, the Los Angeles-based investment firm.

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