TIDMMERC
Mercia Asset Management PLC
18 September 2020
RNS REACH 18 September 2020
Mercia Asset Management PLC
("Mercia")
Life Sciences' Portfolio Update
Mercia Asset Management PLC (AIM: MERC), the proactive,
regionally focused, specialist asset manager, is pleased to provide
an update on the Life Sciences investments within both its balance
sheet and managed funds' portfolios.
Life Sciences investments accounted for seven out of the top 20
direct investments as at 31 March 2020 and their cumulative fair
value of GBP28.6million represented 32.7% of the total portfolio by
value.
All of Mercia's Life Sciences direct investments originated from
its third-party managed funds and in addition to these investments,
Mercia has a further c.40 Life Sciences investments across its
third-party managed funds.
In the current financial year to date GBP4.2million has been
invested into six Life Sciences direct investments, with a further
GBP1.6million invested by Mercia's managed funds.
Direct investments
Oxford Genetics Ltd ("OXGENE") - Third consecutive year of 100%+
revenue growth
-- 30.2% fully diluted direct investment stake as at 31 March
2020 with a further c.10% fully diluted stake held by Mercia's
managed funds
OXGENE, based in Oxford, is a biotechnology company specialising
in gene therapy, gene editing and antibody discovery that delivered
a third consecutive year of 100%+ revenue growth, more than
doubling revenues in its financial year ended 30 April 2020. This
continued growth has been fuelled by a combination of strategic
licensing agreements and service delivery projects, including a
strategic partnership with Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies. The
company's continued growth has been recognised recently by The
Sunday Times' Fastest Growing Tech 100 at position 19.
Medherant Ltd ("Medherant") - Novel transdermal drug
delivery
-- 30.1% fully diluted direct investment stake as at 31 March
2020 with a further c.16% fully diluted stake held by Mercia's
managed funds
Warwickshire-based Medherant, which was spun out of the
University of Warwick, is a developer of transdermal
drug-in-adhesive patches using a novel adhesive. In May 2020 the
company announced that it had signed an agreement to develop and
commercialise multiple products using the TEPI Patch(R) technology
for the global commercial-stage pharmaceutical company Cycle
Pharmaceuticals Ltd ("Cycle"). Cycle focuses on rare diseases and
intends to utilise Medherant's technology to develop formulations
that will address the unmet needs of patients with conditions such
as dysphagia and dyskinesia. As interest continues in Medherant's
platform technology, the company has recently secured an additional
large pharma evaluation agreement. In parallel, Medherant is
developing an internal candidate patch which is expected to go into
clinical trials in 2021, addressing a market estimated at
c.$1billion per annum. In June 2020, the company completed on a
syndicated investment round of GBP2.8million of which Mercia made a
direct investment of GBP1.4million.
Locate Bio Ltd ("Locate") - Appointment of CEO and funding
-- 17.4% fully diluted direct investment stake as at 31 March
2020 with a further c.17% fully diluted stake held by Mercia's
managed funds
Locate, a spinout from the University of Nottingham and based at
MediCity in Nottinghamshire, is a regenerative medicine company
focused on orthobiologics. It received a GBP2.3million syndicated
investment in July 2020 and has recently appointed as CEO John von
Benecke who brings executive experience from ApaTech Ltd, a leading
UK orthobiologics success story, which was sold for c.$330million
to Baxter.
Locate's first product, at pre-clinical stage, will help
patients who require spinal fusion surgery to overcome low back
pain by using a type of bone protein to achieve the fusion. Its
second therapy will be for the biological renewal of the
intervertebral disc and will help those suffering from degenerative
disc disease, which affects c.33million people in the US and
EU.
In July 2020, Locate secured a syndicated investment of
GBP2.5million of which Mercia made a direct investment of
GBP0.8million.
MIP Diagnostics Ltd ("MIP") - GBP5.1million syndicated funding
round in July 2020 to accelerate global expansion.
-- 3.3% fully diluted direct investment stake currently with a
further c.30% fully diluted stake held by Mercia's managed
funds
MIP, which is a spinout from the University of Leicester and
located in Bedford, has developed a proprietary process to provide
Molecular Imprinted Polymers ("MIPS") to the vitro diagnostic,
bioprocessing and oil and gas industries. The company develops and
manufactures synthetic affinity reagents - polymers that are
designed to bind to specific target molecules for detection,
purification or extraction purposes. In July 2020, Mercia made its
first direct investment in a GBP5.1million syndicated funding round
to accelerate MIP's global expansion. The company recently
announced a partnership with Stream Bio to develop a rapid COVID-19
viral infection detection assay.
The Native Antigen Company Ltd ("NAC") - Evidence of Mercia's
model in action
-- Sale announced in July 2020, achieving an 8.4x return on original direct investment cost
In keeping with Mercia's model of providing a return to
third-party managed fund investors and looking to exit its direct
investments within a three to seven-year period, Mercia was pleased
to exit this investment fully in July 2020. NAC, a leading producer
of infectious disease reagents that include antigens for COVID-19
antibody test kits, was sold to global life sciences tools company
LGC in July 2020 for a total cash consideration of up to
GBP18.0million.
NAC was originally a divestiture from Hybrid Systems, a
University of Birmingham spinout of which Mercia was a founding
investor via its managed funds. The sale generated, on its original
direct investment cost, an 8.4x return and a 65% internal rate of
return ("IRR") and, on a blended third-party managed funds
investment cost, a 12.1x return a 31% funds IRR.
Third-party managed funds investments
The following is a selection of promising businesses within
Mercia's third-party managed funds, which represent potential
future candidates for Mercia's direct investment portfolio.
Abingdon Health Ltd ("Abingdon") - Leading the UK Rapid Test
Consortium ("UK-RTC")
-- Mercia's managed funds hold fully diluted stakes totalling c.23%
This York-based medical device manufacturer that is leading the
UK-RTC has recently received its CE mark for the SARS-CoV-2 virus
("COVID-19") rapid antibody tests which it developed. The
AbC-19(TM) Rapid Test for detection of IgG antibodies to COVID-19
is now available for distribution for professional use. Abingdon
reached design freeze for the AbC-19(TM) lateral flow test for IgG
antibodies to COVID-19 in June 2020 after which it fast-tracked
development and secured European CE Mark approval in just 14 weeks.
This process would normally take 10 months or more to complete. The
company is targeting to produce 0.5million COVID-19 antibody tests
per month from October 2020 and 1.0million tests per month from
January 2021.
Sense Biodetection Ltd ("Sense") - Accelerated programme to
launch the first instrument-free, point-of-care, molecular
diagnostic test for COVID-19
-- Mercia's managed funds hold fully diluted stakes totalling c.15%
With operations in the UK (in Oxford and Cambridge) and the US
(in Boston), Sense is focused on the development of instrument-free
molecular diagnostics delivering true point-of-care molecular
testing. Just under 12 months ago Sense raised GBP10.5million in
Series A investments and concurrently secured a grant of
GBP1.8million from Innovate UK. In March 2020 Sense announced an
accelerated programme to launch the world's first instrument-free,
point-of-care molecular diagnostic test for COVID-19, partnering
with Phillips-Medisize (a leading global medical device innovator,
developer and manufacturer, owned by Molex) to scale up production
of its testing to meet the growing demand for rapid
diagnostics.
Medovate Ltd ("Medovate") - Named as one of 2020's 'Leading
Innovators in Medical Device Development' in Global Health &
Pharma's ("GHP") 2020 Global Excellence Awards
-- Mercia's managed funds hold fully diluted stakes totalling c.30%
Based in Cambridge, Medovate is a medical device company focused
on the development, manufacture and commercialisation of innovative
medical technologies created within the National Health Service
("NHS"). The company, which received GBP4.5milion of investment
from Mercia's Northern VCT Funds in 2017, is making considerable
commercial progress. Since April 2020, it concluded agreements with
four US-based companies to act as the exclusive distributors for
its FDA-approved Safer Injection for Regional Anaesthesia
("SAFIRA") innovation across the US. In September 2020, the company
secured European CE Mark approval for SAFIRA and a further
agreement was concluded with Brisbane-based LTR Medial, which will
provide exclusivity in Australia and New Zealand.
Mark Payton, Chief Executive Officer at Mercia, commented:
"The Life Sciences sector represents a significant growth area
in the UK's regions and is well positioned to benefit from current
trends. We are excited by the progress we are seeing in both our
direct investments and managed funds, and the potential of our
portfolio demonstrates the value and innovation in th e UK
healthcare sector. Today's update is an important indicator that
the life sciences community is predominantly located outside of
London and that not only is it resilient, but it is fast
growing.
"Mercia has demonstrated its ability to identify investment
opportunities to which others do not have access. By continuing to
invest and nurture early-stage regional Life Sciences businesses,
we make it possible for the UK's technology industry to have a real
impact in tackling global issues, build regional employment and
create demonstrable shareholder value."
-Ends-
For further information, please contact:
Mercia Asset Management PLC
Mark Payton, Chief Executive Officer
Martin Glanfield, Chief Financial Officer +44 (0)330 223
www.mercia.co.uk 1430
Canaccord Genuity Limited (NOMAD and Joint +44 (0)20 7523
Broker) 8000
Simon Bridges, Emma Gabriel, Richard Andrews
N+1 Singer (Joint Broker)
+44 (0)20 7496
Harry Gooden, James Moat 3000
+44 (0)20 3727
FTI Consulting 1051
Tom Blackwell, Louisa Feltes, Shiv Talwar
mercia@fticonsulting.com
About Mercia Asset Management PLC:
Mercia is a proactive, specialist asset manager focused on
supporting regional SMEs to achieve their growth aspirations.
Mercia provides capital across its four asset classes of balance
sheet, venture, private equity and debt capital: the Group's
'Complete Connected Capital'. The Group initially nurtures
businesses via its third-party funds under management, then over
time Mercia can provide further funding to the most promising
companies, by deploying direct investment follow-on capital from
its own balance sheet.
The Group has a strong UK footprint through its regional
offices, 19 university partnerships and extensive personal
networks, providing it with access to high-quality deal flow.
Mercia currently has c.GBP800million of assets under management
and, since its IPO in December 2014, has invested over GBP96million
into its direct investment portfolio.
Mercia Asset Management PLC is quoted on AIM with the epic
"MERC".
This information is provided by Reach, the non-regulatory press
release distribution service of RNS, part of the London Stock
Exchange. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Private
Policy.
END
NRAUBUKRRNUKAAR
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 18, 2020 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
Mercia Asset Management (LSE:MERC)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Mar 2024 a Abr 2024
Mercia Asset Management (LSE:MERC)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Abr 2023 a Abr 2024
