18 Dec 2008 12:27
18 December 2008 Imperial Innovations Group plc ("Imperial Innovations") Portfolio Company Trade Sale for up to ‚£100 million
Imperial Innovations (AIM: IVO), a leading technology commercialisation and investment company, announces that Thiakis Limited, a company in which Imperial Innovations has a 23.7% stake, has been sold for a total consideration of up to ‚£100 million to US-based Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth . The consideration comprises an upfront payment of ‚£20 million followed by additional potential milestones payments totalling up to ‚£80 million.
In total Imperial Innovations may receive cash payments (net of transaction costs) of ‚£22.2 million (‚£16 million after revenue sharing) from the sale, having today received ‚£3.2 million, resulting in a net payment to it of ‚£2.8 million after deduction of revenue it shares with Imperial College London and other research sponsors. The receipt of certain deferred payments will depend on the progress of development of Thiakis' obesity product as it achieves certain clinical development milestones.
In addition to the value realised by Imperial Innovations from the sale, which will be used for investment purposes, Imperial Innovations retains rights to royalties on sales of Thiakis' product family (oxyntomodulin and its analogues) through its ongoing exclusive licence to Thiakis of intellectual property relating to use of the gut hormone oxyntomodulin. There exists a significant unmet medical need for safe and effective therapies for obesity.
Thiakis is developing TKS1225, an analogue of the peptide hormone oxyntomodulin, for the treatment of obesity, including the prevention and amelioration of diseases associated with excess weight such as Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Thiakis is the exclusive licensee of patents owned by Imperial Innovations which claim methods of treatment of obesity with these peptides as well as novel analogues of oxyntomodulin.
Thiakis was founded in 2004 by Professor Stephen Bloom and Dr John Burt, together with Imperial Innovations. Professor Bloom is a world leading expert in obesity at Imperial College London who has worked in the field of regulation of gut hormones for the suppression of appetite over a period of 20 years, and Dr Burt was formerly Head of Medical & Life Sciences at Imperial Innovations. Thiakis is located in London and, in 2006, raised ‚£10 million financing from a syndicate of Investors led by Advent Venture Partners, Novo A/S and Imperial Innovations, together with other investors including the Royal Society and Esperante. In its last financial year, Thiakis made a loss and paid no dividend. Imperial Innovations invested ‚£1.5 million in Thiakis and supported the formation and development of the company. Imperial Innovations' carrying value for Thiakis was ‚£3.6 million as at 31 July 2008. Until its sale today, Susan Searle, CEO of Imperial Innovations, was a non-executive director of Thiakis.
Imperial Innovations has a number of other therapeutic businesses in its portfolio of equity holdings, including Circassia, a company developing allergy therapeutics with two products in phase 2, CellMedica, a cell therapy business already in patient trials and Respivert a company developing respiratory therapeutics. All these companies have strong management teams with proven track records and have been funded alongside venture funders who have experience and understanding of their sectors.
Susan Searle, Chief Executive of Imperial Innovations, commented:
"This is highly significant news for Imperial Innovations as it demonstrates the value of our approach and the quality of the companies we choose to work with and help to develop. We are delighted that Wyeth is to take on the development of Thiakis' product. They are a well resourced global business capable of funding the considerable costs of this project and taking it to market. The potential additional financial upside of a royalty-based revenue stream for Imperial Innovations reinforces the validity of our business model."
Dr John Burt, Chief Executive Officer of Thiakis, commented:
"I am delighted that we have concluded the sale of Thiakis to Wyeth, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. Thiakis' success in advancing this program into clinical development and achieving the sale to Wyeth is testament to the quality of the team that has been built around Thiakis, including former colleagues at Imperial Innovations who have supported the company from its foundation."
For further information contact:
Imperial Innovations
Lucy Ahfong, Marketing Communications Executive
Tel. +44 (0)20 7594 6644
M:Communications
Patrick d'Ancona / Ben Simons / Harriet Totty
Tel. +44 (0)20 7153 1530
JPMorgan Cazenove (NOMAD to Imperial Innovations)
Steve BaldwinTel. +44(0)20 7588 2828About Imperial Innovations
Imperial Innovations is one of the UK's leading technology commercialisation and investment companies. Founded in 1986, its ordinary shares were admitted to trading on the AIM Market of London Stock Exchange plc in July 2006, raising ‚£ 26 million. It raised a further ‚£30 million in November 2007 by means of a placing of new ordinary shares with investors.
Imperial Innovations' integrated commercialisation approach encompasses the identification of ideas, the protection of intellectual property, the development and licensing of technology and the formation, incubation and funding through investment of technology businesses. Based at Imperial College London, Imperial Innovations commercialises a wide range of technologies primarily within the areas of healthcare, energy and the environment.
www.imperialinnovations.co.uk
Obesity
The World Health Organisation estimates that there are more than one billion overweight adults globally, of which at least 300 million are clinically obese. Excess body weight is associated with numerous medical conditions including Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, stroke, cardiovascular disease, respiratory problems, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis and sleep apnea. The risk of death from all causes increases with excess weight, including the risk of death associated with cardiovascular disease and cancer.
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