Growth capital investor Beringea’s portfolio company Abzena Plc, previously known as Polytherics, has raised GBP20 million by way of a placing of 25 million new ordinary shares at 80 pence per share.
The firm’s ordinary shares have been admitted to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.
Some 3.4 million existing ordinary shares are also being sold at the placing price.
Beringea first invested in Polytherics through ProVen Growth and Income (PGI) and ProVen Health (now merged with PGI) in September 2011.
The company’s entire issued share capital of 97.4 million ordinary shares (as enlarged by the placing of new ordinary shares) was admitted to trading on AIM on 10 July 2014 under the ticker ABZA . At the placing price, the market capitalisation of Abzena on Admission was approximately GBP80 million and the shares held by PGI were worth GBP3.07m, a multiple of 2.4x the cost of the investment.
Dr Stephane Mery, partner at Beringea, says: “This placing will help to secure the company’s position as a leader in the biopharmaceutical industry. We are delighted to have been involved in the development and growth of Abzena."
John Burt, CEO of Abzena, says: “The proceeds from the placing and our admission to AIM mark important milestones in Abzena’s development and provides a platform for us to grow our existing business and expand our offering as we enable our customers and partners to translate research into better biopharmaceutical products that benefit patients.
“Abzena combines a growing, high-margin service business with the potential for substantial longer term revenue streams from licences to our proprietary technologies.”