News coverage11 Feb 2021 09:18
Staying put: Cathal Friel says as long as Open Orphan’s share price keeps doubling he won’t be cashing out. Photo: Jason Clarke
‘In came the pandemic and suddenly being the world leader for a vaccine got kind of interesting’
February 11, 2021 by Ellie Donelly
Financier Cathal Friel is a familiar figure in Irish business. Over the years he has worked in finance, oil and gas, technology and media, but it is in his current project, Open Orphan, where he appears to have caught lightning in a bottle.
Open Orphan was only set up in 2017 as a niche pharmaceutical services company.
Two years later, Friel engineered a reverse takeover of stock market Venn Life Sciences – struggling at the time but already established on the Irish stock exchange and able to tap fresh investment.
From a standing start four years ago, Open Orphan’s shares are now valued at around £200m (€228m).
A big reason for that is that the pandemic means the world of diseases and their treatments is now the most critically important business on earth.
“For the first time in my life the hand of God came, instead of another disaster and the company blowing up. In came the pandemic and suddenly by April [2020] being the world leader for a vaccine got kind of interesting and the rest is history,” Friel says in his light Donegal accent.
Open Orphan’s Hvivo subsidiary is a world leader in testing anti-viral treatments on humans. Its purpose-built quarantine unit in London’s Whitechapel has 24 ensuite bedrooms where test volunteers live around the clock.
Why would we sell when the greatest gold rush in infectious diseases is just starting?
“Last year, being the world leader in what was a tiny niche had become really sexy, our share price has gone up.”
Would Friel, a former director of Merrion Stockbrokers who has seen the tops of other markets before and is Open Orphan’s biggest shareholder, considering selling now?
“If you think about it, why would we sell when the greatest gold rush in infectious diseases is just starting? We’d have no interest in selling the company at this stage,” he says.
“Our share price keeps doubling every 12 months. Where would you put your money if you can double it every 12 months? I’d still be one of the biggest shareholders, my view would be okay, yes, the company could be sold but where could I put my money where I’d be guaranteed to double it every 12 months other than leave it in Open Orphan?
“Provided the share price keeps doubling we’ll stay put,” he says.
“At the moment we have every capability to become a billion-dollar company.”
The share price is not the focus however.
His philosophy to managing the company is simple: “do the business, deliver the results and the share price will look after itself.”
“I think if you focus on the share price you get distracted, our job is running the company, deliver the results, the share price will follow.”
With value building up fast, Friel is considering spinning some of the non-core pharma assets –
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