Period of significant activity with $674 million raised by the portfolio and third successful exit to date – proposed sale of Gyroscope for up to $1.5 billion
Syncona Ltd, a leading healthcare company focused on founding, building and funding global leaders in life science, today issues its quarterly update covering the period from 01 October to 31 December 2021.
Key operational and financial highlights:
- Sale of Gyroscope Therapeutics (Gyroscope) for up to $1.5 billion (£1.1 billion) to Novartis[1] delivers a £221 million (33p per share) uplift to NAV highlighting the Syncona model in action
- Net assets of £1,339.7 million, a 16 per cent growth in NAV in Q3; uplifts from sale of Gyroscope and financings in Quell Therapeutics (Quell) and Anaveon partially offset by share price movements in listed holdings
- Five significant financings announced in the period, raising a total of $674 million of capital to further support the growing portfolio, with $93 million (£69 million)[2] committed by Syncona
- Continued clinical and operational progress made by our portfolio companies, with Autolus, Freeline and Achilles presenting clinical data updates, and Quell and SwanBio expected to enter the clinic in CY2022
- Continued appointment of healthcare leaders across the portfolio, with Syncona Limited also strengthening its own Board with the appointments of Dr Julie Cherrington and Dr Cristina Csimma
- Capital base of £496.5 million at 31 December 2021
For the full release, please head to the results and presentations page.
Martin Murphy, CEO, Syncona Investment Management Limited, said: “It has been a period of significant activity within the portfolio, with multiple financings, further clinical progress, and our third successful exit to date. The proposed sale of Gyroscope to Novartis for up to $1.5 billion shows our continued ability to build globally competitive businesses and deliver strong risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders. Once closed, the proceeds from this transaction will strengthen our capital base and provide us with the flexibility to continue to fund the growth of our current portfolio and invest in new opportunities.
We continue to see our companies attract substantive capital, with five significant financings announced across Autolus, Quell, Anaveon, Gyroscope[3] and Clade in the last quarter, totalling $674 million. Many of our companies are approaching clinical data readouts in the next 12 months, and we remain confident in the potential of our portfolio to drive value and deliver transformational treatments to patients.”
[1] Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. Novartis and Gyroscope will continue to operate as separate and independent companies until closing
[2] FX rate as at 31 December 2021
[3] Prior to the proposed sale to Novartis, Sanofi committed to invest up to $60.0 million in equity of Gyroscope