Neil Woodford’s fund has snapped up £11.6 million ($16.4 million) worth of Imperial Innovations’ (LON:IVO) £100 million placement. The deal gives Woodford Investment Management a 21% stake in the company, an academia-focused tech commercialization and investment firm that lists Circassia (LON:CIR) and PsiOxus Therapeutics in its portfolio.
Acquiring the £11.6 million stake in Innovations moved Woodford’s stake in the company past the 20% mark when holdings in both his Woodford Equity Income and Patient Capital Trust are taken into account. In doing so, Woodford has deepened his ties to Innovations, which since spinning out of Imperial College London in 2006 has contributed to an increase in the cash that is available to young biotechs in Britain.
The £100 million placement is intended to enable Innovations to continue this work, while enhancing its ability to support its most promising portfolio prospects as they grow and need larger sums of money. This latter point was the stated aim of fundraising rounds completed by Innovations in 2011 and 2014. Following the 2011 financing, Innovations led a £60 million investment in Circassia, while the 2014 fundraising preceded it taking the lead role in £50 million round at Cell Medica.
For Woodford, the deal continues a strategy of investing in other backers of early-stage firms. Allied Minds (LON:ALM), Oxford Sciences Innovation, Innovations and IP Group (LON:IPO) are all among the 20 biggest positions taken by Woodford's Patient Capital Trust. Woodford added another strand to the strategy this week by participating in Draper Esprit’s IPO.
When combined with Woodford’s direct investments in biotechs, the positions taken up in these tech investment and commercialization companies mean his fund is exposed to some degree to a sizable chunk of university life science spinouts in the U.K., particularly in the hotbed of activity around Cambridge, London and Oxford.
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