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- Fourth fund IPO in London in 2017 raises gross proceeds of $762 million, surpassing initial $300 million target
- Biopharma Credit is the first London listed fund specialising in debt financing for life sciences industry
- £2.5 billion raised in Q1 2017 by London listed- funds, up more than 100 per cent year-on-year
- London Stock Exchange continues to attract growing numbers of international fund managers across diversified range of funds
- Over 450 funds now listed on London markets
London Stock Exchange welcomes today BioPharma Credit, a closed ended investment company focused on the life sciences industry, to the Specialist Fund Segment of the Main Market. BioPharma Credit raised gross proceeds of $762 million through its IPO, surpassing its initial $300 million target. It is the first London listed fund to specialise in debt financing for the life sciences industry, highlighting the global investor interest in UK life sciences and the strength of London’s fund industry.
BioPharma Credit is the fourth fund to list on London Stock Exchange in 2017, demonstrating London’s attractiveness to international fund managers, particularly from the US. To date, over £2.5 billion has been raised in initial and follow-on capital raisings by London listed funds, more than a 100 per cent increase year-on-year.
Most notable is the increasing diversified nature of the funds choosing to list and raise follow-on capital in London, from UK, Irish and international infrastructure, renewable and property specific funds to generalist issuers. High profile issuances in London over the past 12 months have included Vietnam-focused investment management company, Dragon Capital, listing its flagship $900m fund, Vietnam Enterprise Investments Ltd and Civitas Social Housing raising £350 million, becoming the first real estate investment trust focussed on social housing to list on London Stock Exchange.
Nikhil Rathi, CEO, London Stock Exchange plc:
“London Stock Exchange congratulates Pablo Legorreta and his team on this milestone transaction.
Welcoming BioPharma Credit to our markets today is another vote of confidence in the strength of UK life sciences and the UK fund industry. 2017’s surge in overall money raised by London listed funds to £2.5 billion demonstrates London Stock Exchange’s enduring ability to finance a variety of issuers from across the world, from a number of sectors, giving them access to London’s deepest pool of international investor capital - a trend we expect to see continue this year.”
Pablo Legorreta, CEO of Royalty Pharma and Co-Founder of Pharmakon, the Investment Manager of BioPharma Credit:
“Our IPO had a strong response from a diverse range of high quality institutional investors. We chose the London Stock Exchange as it will provide us with an excellent platform for growth, giving us access to multi-currency investor capital whilst becoming part of a unique financial services ecosystem. Building upon our strong track record, we are excited to give a broader audience of investors access to the benefits of our strong network and in-depth knowledge of the sector.”
London Stock Exchange fund credentials:
- Biopharma Credit is the largest global life sciences related IPO so far in 2017
- 2017’s fund IPOs have performed well since listing, all are trading at Premiums to their Net Asset Values
- 31 funds are now listed on the Specialist Fund Market
- The largest London listed fund is Scottish Mortgage Trust with a market cap of just under £5bn. It joined the FTSE 100 in March 2017
More information on the Specialist Fund Market can be found at: www.londonstockexchange.com/companies-and-advisors/sfm/home/sfm.htm
London Stock Exchange life science, healthcare and IP Commercialisation credentials:
- £1.96 billion was raised in life science IPOs and further offerings on London Stock Exchange in 2016, bringing the total since 2014 close to £6 billion - an historic three-year peak in life science funding in the UK
- In October 2016, ConvaTec, the global medical products and technologies company, raised £1.59 billion in London, capitalising the business at £4.39 billion. ConvaTec was the largest European healthcare IPO for more than 20 years and is among the top ten largest global healthcare IPOs of all time
- The float of MaxCyte, a developer and supplier of cell engineering products, on AIM in March 2016, highlighted the continued appetite for US-based life sciences companies to list in London, building on listings from Verseon and MotifBio in 2015
- Over 115 life science companies are currently listed on London Stock Exchange, with a combined market capitalisation nearing £400 billion, up £40 billion since the end of 2015
- London Stock Exchange is playing a leading role in supporting University IP Commercialisation
- Since 2014 £2.7bn ($3.8bn) has been raised for IP Commercialisation on London Stock Exchange, with £1.0bn ($1.2bn) related directly to US entities
- Since 2014, 13 university spin outs have joined London Stock Exchange’s markets raising £2.5 billion and today have an aggregate market value of £4.3 billion
- In 2016, London Stock Exchange hosted its first University IP Commercialisation Investor Forum
- IP Group (formerly IP2IPO) was the first IP commercialisation company to join London Stock Exchange, floating on AIM in 2003
