Arix, Syncona and WPCT look set to reap gains on pending Autolus Nasdaq IPO
Three LSE-listed health/biotech venture capital investment firms – Arix Bioscience (ARIX), Syncona (SYNC) and Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) – should see a nice boost to their NAV if Autolus, the UK-based CAR-T cell company completes its proposed Nasdaq IPO. Autolus is a portfolio company for all three firms and assuming the IPO completes on the indicative terms, it would generate an instant NAV uplift of between 4 and 8%.
Arix is the most highly geared to Autolus, with an investment equivalent to 13.7% of its NAV; Syncona and Woodford Patient Capital both have holdings equivalent to 8.1% of their respective NAVs. WPCT believes the Autolus float will add between £25.9-£35.1m to its NAV and boost net asset value per share by 3.1p-4.2p.
Autolus is expected to make its debut on the US markets next week and is aiming to raise at least $125m, before expenses, from the sale of 7.8m shares at a price of between $15-17/share. The IPO, if successful, would give it a post-money market capitalisation of $604m (at the mid-point) with the shares expected to begin trading on 22 June. Based on the indicative range, the pre-money valuation would provide an uplift of between 53-73% against the current £221m carrying value of the investments held by the three firms, which reflect the terms of the Autolus’ September 2017 funding round.
Autolus is developing second-generation dual-targeting CAR-T cell therapies for cancer indications.