Member Info for extrader

.."TF wanted the ability to expand globally .."

Why do they need SYME for that ? Serious question.

TF (Tom James) has / had an operating company in the UK for some time (Navitas) https://suite.endole.co.uk/insight/people/19976643-professor-thomas-glyn-james

TF already has concrete business links with the M East - its Funds admin and legal advisors are both based in Dubai.

SYME has Anthony Brown ( a Brit) as rep in the US, TF has had Tod Esse - active in various guises - for some time.

They've even appear to have gone so far as setting up complementary websites :

https://ibb.co/VJ4sBmM
https://ibb.co/F3tNwKj

Leaving Italy aside, TF appears in 'boots on the ground' terms to be further down the global expansion path than SYME.

IMO

A serious topic ...and here's a good place to start : https://www.developgoodhabits.com/confirmation-bias/

ATB

"These are VERY important accounts for the following reasons:
1. Showing progress in implementing strategy of the company
2. Showing how BoD invested capital generated by selling shares.
3 showing how the company is compliant and CAPABLE of keeping important deadlines.
4. Stating all risks and opportunities for another 12 months."

I wonder whether the new investors have received this information ? It's hard to imagine them putting in serious money - at least £ 4m ? - without it.

.." But have they proven it prevents infection with malaria or Zika yet or just that it illicits a significant immune response to further saliva exposure which might prevent infection? "

Since CF misspoke re bacteria, he's probably not the person to ask ;-> !

May be one for the Imutex folk ?

.."the question is: where the NewCo will get the fresh data from if it separates from the ORPH? .."

CF stated that the DiM/ORPH relationship would be covered by an agreement that provided for continued access to data.

Cont/...

“They are absolutely transforming drug discovery,” said Branson, who was an early investor in the company.

Impact Decisions
23andMe has also sought to find new ways to more directly impact the health decisions of its customers.

When the pandemic began, 23andMe launched a million-person study to look at how genomics and other factors contribute to how severely ill those who contract the virus become. Last month, it launched its Covid-19 Severity Calculator, which calculates a person’s risk of being hospitalized due to the virus.

In October, it also quietly launched a subscription product that gives consumers more detailed information about their health. Wojcicki said the company would like to be more involved in their customers’ health care.

“We want to solve the problem of doctors not knowing what to do with genetic information,” she said.

Wojcicki has long-expressed hesitancy about becoming a publicly traded company. But the focus on health care created by the pandemic created the right moment for a public debut, she said.

“We’re in a position to grow, to really accelerate what we’re doing in therapeutics and on consumer side,” Wojcicki said. “It’s the right time.”

All grist to the mill....and gives further support to CF's view that we're in a 'supercycle' for tech-led medicine...

HTH

23 and me has very cleverly leveraged people's interest in health/genealogy to build up a monetisable database that - now that its subscriber numbers meet the 'statistically meaningful' thresholds - it is planning to exploit with Richard Branson.

Lots of interesting read-across here for us ORPHans (copyright ;->).

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-04/23andme-to-go-public-as-3-5-billion-company-via-branson-merger

.."Consumer DNA-testing company 23andMe Inc. has entered into a deal to merge with VG Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company founded by billionaire Richard Branson.

The agreement values the Silicon Valley company at $3.5 billion, with Chief Executive Officer Anne Wojcicki and Branson each investing $25 million into a $250 million private investment in public equity offering. Bloomberg News reported news of a potential deal last week.

Other investors include Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Altimeter Capital, Casdin Capital and Foresite Capital. Current shareholders of 23andMe will own 81% of the combined company, with the deal expected to close in the second quarter of 2021. A merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, allows 23andMe to go public without the uncertainty or holding an initial public offering.

“Covid-19 has really opened up doors,” Wojcicki said in a joint interview with Branson. Now more than ever, she said, people are interested in preventative health care. “I’ve had this dream since 2003 that genetics would revolutionize health care and that’s really the era I see we can now usher in.”

The influx of new capital will allow the company to expand its efforts in developing therapeutics from its trove of genetic data , according to Wojcicki. She also plans to expand the company’s reach on the consumer front.

In the 1970s, Branson founded the Virgin Group that now owns hundreds of companies. “There is no better money to invest than in health care,” Branson said in the interview Thursday.

SPACs have become a popular vehicle for companies to go public over the past year. The combined company will have a pro forma cash balance of more than $900 million. Once the deal is closed, VGAC will change its ticker to ME and the combined company will trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

23andMe, meanwhile, has doubled down on efforts to prove that consumer DNA tests offer more than entertainment value.

The company has vastly expanded efforts to turn genetic data from its more than 12 million customers into therapies, and has a deal to collaborate on drug development with GlaxoSmithKline Plc, which took a $300 million stake in the company in 2018.

Last year, the company licensed a drug developed in-house to another company. In total, it has more than 30 therapeutic programs in progress. But drug development is expensive, and Wojcicki said the merger allow the company to expand those efforts. “There is a lot more opportunity with cash,” she said.

Hi all,

Why not see what ACTUALLY happens with the first spin-off...and IF the incentivisation of CF AND team then seems unwarranted, register your disapproval at that point ? If there's enough of a head of steam, make it an AGM issue....and a marker for subsequent spin-offs.

But remember that this first spin-off likely requires more 'baby-sitting' and shepherding (hence CF's chairmanship) than the later ones, where ORPH has only part/minority ownership/control.

IMO

.."Do you think it is fair that CF will own possibly 50% more Poolbeg Pharma Limited shares than he should get based only on his Open Orphan shares?.."

Rather than deal with hypotheticals, why not ask that when we know the facts ?

As the Russian spy Abel says in Bridge of spies a couple of times , when asked whether he's worried about execution by the US as a spy or execution by his Russian bosses as a suspected 'turned' agent

" Would it make a difference ?'

Your blood pressure will thank you.

HTH

'Probably less than 5% amongst the executive management".

I think you'll find the incentive he's mentioned will be spread amongst the staff, not kept for himself.

HTH

Padrock, you've misunderstood. Pls stop digging.

ATB

I endorse the Guvnor's sentiment.

“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

.."Q. Can you explain to the group why, on your thinking, if TF were to create a new origination, on say 1 September 2022, when they are well within the SYME fold, they would take any form of earn-out, given TF would no longer exist?.."

Simple. Because :

.."The valuation is based on the positive track record of funds launched, the Intellectual Property rights related to the proprietary digital platform ("TradeFlow+") and the TradeFlow business plan to 2025..."

The TradeFlow business plan, ie the plan of the company SYME proposes to acquire. Not ' a business plan reflecting the post-acquisition potential of the two business lines."

SYME MIGHT privately do that calculation, to determine what TF would potentially be worth to it...and why it would be willing to pay - on the face of it - 'over the odds' ...but it would be stupid to share that insight with the company it was hoping to acquire.

If you don't understand this, you're either incredibly naive commercially or being deliberately obtuse.
I'm putting it politely.

HTH

Stevek's interpretations : .."Particularly when you consider the earn-out payments will only relate to originations pre January 2021.."
and
.."Any new originations post January 2021 will fall within SYME revenues and there will be no earn out based on these, IMO..."
and
.."SYME are paying for a snapshot of the TF company, perhaps to 31 December 2020..."

What the RNS actually says : "TradeFlow has been valued at approximately GBP31m by an independent valuation company. The valuation is based on the positive track record of funds launched, the Intellectual Property rights related to the proprietary digital platform ("TradeFlow+") and the TradeFlow business plan to 2025..."

..and the TradeFlow business plan to 2025.

Do your own research....and draw your own conclusions.

Have a great Bank Holiday weekend, everyone.

.."Are you afraid to actually state what you elude [sic] to due to legal reasons? Because you suggest a lot but are always careful to cover your arse..."

I express ' an honest opinion, honestly held', so have no concerns in that respect.

And I don't 'suggest', I try to state facts/provide links and give reasons for my opinions, being open about things I don't understand. Like this one.

They're called 'discussion' boards for a reason - if you're not interested (in reading or replying) that's fine by me, just put me on filter. Lots do.

HTH

No connection to Lloyds shares, other than those I received when I worked for them for a spell, 40 years ago.

HTH

No mystery. There are a number of people who post on both - you know who you are - presumably for the same reason as I do : you occasionally get a reply from which you learn something.
It's a scaleable thing, also. Though I don't post anywhere else, as it happens.
HTH

The TradeFlow transaction is a puzzler :

(1) the independent valuation is £ 31m . "The valuation is based on the positive track record of funds launched, the Intellectual Property rights related to the proprietary digital platform ("TradeFlow+") and the TradeFlow business plan to 2025."

(2) we don't know how close the consideration payable is to the valuation. We do know that the consideration is a 2-parter : cash + shares (together approx £ 7.2m) now and the balance by way of earn-out targets (= part of the basis of valuation) being met.

(3) so here's the puzzle : the more you ascribe to the IP and funds launched and working, the less is available to ascribe to future revenue streams, which have been included for a full 5 years.

(4) TF's IP is evident and has passed not only 'proof of concept' but practical application, as shown by the 2 funds' reported progress. If valued at £ 10m , that would surely be a steal, esp. compared to the lofty £ 220m of SYME's IP + business plan valuation.

(5) Let's say £ 10m for the IP + current business , for the sake of argument. That leaves £ 21m for a full valuation of TF's business plan projected revenues or net profit through to 2025 , ie 5 years, maybe (net profit) ranging £ 2m > £ 7m , average £ 4m per year.

(6) £ 21m/ £4m NPAT would be a p/e of 5, which seems low for a financial services co and insanely low for a fintech co, where people talk of p/e ratios of 20x, 30x, 50x.....

The 2 parts together don't make sense to me : the more value you ascribe to the IP etc, the less for future earnings potential ie 'hope value' (which already seems on the low side).......and the more you value the latter, the less the IP etc is 'worth' (which is bizarre, on the basis of what we've seen of TradeFlow, on the face of it a neat, niche business, with lots of potential for growth).

Either IP isn't worth much ; or profitability is low; or growth prospects are limited, none of which seem likely....and James and Collis are financially aware and can 'do the math', as the Yanks say.

'It's a mystery'.

The NHS is doing the same with its 55 million patient records in the UK.....

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/nhs-share-patient-data-third/

Given the NHS deplorable record of IT failure, I've decided to opt out. Apparently the deadline to do this is June 23 this year.

I wonder how many people are aware of this ?