2021 was a difficult year for small cap biotech and this shows in RTW Venture’s results. Over the course of the year, the NAV fell by 13% and the share price by 5%. That compares to a 1% return on the NASDAQ Biotech Index and a -27% return on the Russell 2000 Biotech Index (which has more of a bias to smaller companies).
$44m worth of new shares were issued over the period and this activity added 1% to the NAV.
At the end of the year the portfolio was split between 17 publicly-listed and 25 privately held companies. 21 companies were added to the portfolio over 2021. There were nine IPOs of portfolio companies over 2021 – Ventyx, Pyxis, Tenaya, Monta Rosa, Biomea Fusion, Prometheus, Landos, Immunocore and GH Research.On average, they were valued at 90% more at IPO than when they were acquired.
The manager says “Over the year, our listed core holdings produced the majority of our losses and our private core holdings produced the majority of our gains. In 2021, the NAV per Ordinary Share declined by 12.8%. The main contributors to the NAV per Ordinary Share decrease were Rocket, Frequency, Avidity, Athira, Pulmonx and Tarsus, contributing c. 25% to the decline. These mark to market losses were offset by the performance of our private companies, particularly JIXING and IPOs of Landos, Immunocore, Prometheus, GH Research, Monte Rosa, Tenaya, Ventyx and acquisition of Inivata, together contributing c. 12.3% to the NAV growth. Share issuance at a premium to net asset value contributed c. 1.2% and the balance of our performance is made up of operating expenses and a performance allocation fee credit.”
There is plenty more detail on the portfolio in the report which we won’t reproduce here.
RTW : RTW Venture struggles in difficult year for biotech