RTW Biotech Opportunities (RTW) and International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) have both bagged a further gain from the M&A wave sweeping their sector after US drugs giant AbbVie swooped on portfolio holding Apogee Therapeutics with a $10.9bn cash bid that bolsters its treatment pipeline for inflammatory diseases like atopic dermatitis and asthma. Shareholders in the Nasdaq-listed drug developer will receive $135.11 per share, a premium of 49.5% to Apogee’s closing share price on 18 June. RTW first invested in Apogee’s series-B financing round as a private company in December 2022. It represented 1.1% of RTW’s net asset value (NAV) and 0.4% of IBT. This is the tenth bid RTW has seen for a portfolio holding in the past 12 months and the seventh for IBT this year. “While pharmaceutical firms have spent tens of billions of dollars on acquiring biotech businesses this year, the patent cliff facing the pharmaceutical sector runs into the hundreds of billions, so we believe this period of dealmaking has much further to run,” said IBT’s Schroders fund managers Ailsa Craig and Marek Poszepczynski.
James Carthew, head of investment company research at QuotedData, said: “Another day, another biotech bid. In this case not a huge position for either RTW or IBT but it does reinforce the message that the biotech M&A boom is alive and kicking.”
Pantheon Infrastructure (PINT) says its net asset value (NAV) per share fell 5.6p, or 4.1%, in the first quarter to 124.8p at 31 March after paying a 2.173p interim dividend. A fall in the shares of Constellation Energy Corporation, which it received after its acquisition of portfolio holding Calpine in January, knocked 3.9p off NAV per share as markets reeled in response to the Iran war and the surge in oil prices. The volatility also reduced the valuation of Spanish logistics group Primafrio and took 0.6p off NAV per share. Elsewhere the £535m portfolio saw a 1.4p per share rise across the rest of the portfolio with unrealised gains on investments including National Gas, IPX Power, CyrusOne and Cartier Energy. PINT shares fell 2.2% to 115.4p in early trading to stand on a 7.5% discount. Over twelve months PINT has delivered a 12.1% total underlying investment return from a higher NAV and 4.346p of dividends.
Greencoat UK Wind (UKW), the £2.3bn renewables fund standing on a 22% discount, has told its broker Jefferies to relaunch a share buyback programme. The wide discount triggered a continuation vote at its annual general meeting last week in which 97% of votes were cast in favour of the company continuing. It will release half-year results on 30 July with its net asset value at 30 June 2026.
Gresham House Renewable Energy VCTs 1 (GV1O) and 2 (GV2O) have completed the “challenging” sale of their remaining solar power assets to True Green Capital Management of the US. After repayment of debts, VCT 1 and 2 will each receive £6.3m, a “haircut” from the last valuation of £8.5m, and will shortly enter voluntary liquidation. They said the “divestment process proved significantly more challenging and time-consuming than originally anticipated” as the portfolio comprised a relatively small number of mature assets with complex financing arrangements. This was exacerbated by the government changing the inflation indexation for renewable incentives from RPI to CPI earlier this year.
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