Syncona Regulatory News (SYNC)

Syncona Limited

Nightstar Therapeutics reaches agreement to be acquired by Biogen Switzerland Holdings for $877 million

 04 March 2019

· Recommended cash offer of $877 million (£663m)[1] for Nightstar Therapeutics plc

· Syncona founded Nightstar, building and funding it through to this successful sale to Biogen

· Syncona's holding valued at £254.6 million[2], £135.4 million uplift (20.2p per share) to previous valuation[3]; a 4.5 multiple of original cost and 72% IRR[4]

Syncona Ltd, a leading healthcare company focused on founding, building and funding global leaders in life science, today notes the announcement from its company, Nightstar Therapeutics Plc (NASDAQ:NITE) (Nightstar), a clinical-stage gene therapy company developing treatments for rare inherited retinal diseases, that it has reached an agreement to be acquired by Biogen at a price of $25.50 per share.

The offer values Nightstar at $877 million and represents a 4.5x multiple on Syncona's original investment of £56.4 million and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 72%. The sale of Nightstar will generate £254.6 million of proceeds for Syncona and is expected to complete in the second quarter.

Martin Murphy, Chief Executive of Syncona Limited, said: "In the six years since Syncona founded Nightstar, the company has established itself as one of the global leaders in retinal gene therapies. It is a strong example of our differentiated approach of founding, building and funding global leaders in life science and we look forward to seeing Nightstar work to deliver transformational treatments to patients during the next phase of its development with Biogen.

The offer for Nightstar will generate £254.6 million of proceeds for Syncona demonstrating our ability to generate superior returns for our shareholders. We will use the proceeds to continue to build and fund our portfolio companies and to pursue exciting new opportunities where we can build globally competitive companies around exceptional science."

The full Nightstar announcement can be read here: https://ir.nightstartx.com/news-releases.

[ENDS]

Enquiries

Syncona Ltd

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Tel: +44 (0) 20 3981 7940

Tulchan Communications

Martin Robinson

Lisa Jarrett-Kerr

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Copies of this press release and other corporate information can be found on the company website at: www.synconaltd.com

Forward-looking statements - this announcement contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to the portfolio of investments of Syncona Ltd. These statements and forecasts involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend upon circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements and forecasts. Nothing in this announcement should be construed as a profit forecast. 

About Syncona:

Syncona is a leading FTSE250 healthcare company focused on founding, building and funding global leaders in life science. Our vision is to deliver transformational treatments to patients in truly innovative areas of healthcare while generating superior returns for shareholders.

We seek to partner with the best, brightest and most ambitious minds in science to build globally competitive businesses.

We take a long-term view, underpinned by a deep pool of capital, and are established leaders in gene and cell therapy. We focus on delivering dramatic efficacy for patients in areas of high unmet need.

About Nightstar Therapeutics

Nightstar is a leading clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing and commercializing novel one-time treatments for patients suffering from rare inherited retinal diseases that would otherwise progress to blindness. NST's lead product candidate, NSRREP1, is currently in Phase 3 development for the treatment of patients with choroideremia, a rare, degenerative, genetic retinal disorder that has no treatments currently available and affects approximately one in every 50,000 people. Positive results from a Phase 1/2 trial of NSR-REP1 were published in Nature Medicine in 2018, in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2016, and in The Lancet in 2014. NST's second product candidate, NSR-RPGR, is currently being evaluated in a clinical trial known as the XIRIUS trial for the treatment of patients with X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited X-linked recessive retinal disease that affects approximately one in every 40,000 people. In September 2018, NST announced positive preliminary safety and efficacy data from the XIRIUS trial for the first five cohorts (combined n=15) of the dose escalation study at the EURETINA medical meeting.

For more information about Nightstar or its clinical trials, please visit www.Nightstartx.com.